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Zoë Kravitz, who stars in the new movie “The Batman” as Catwoman, took a break from superhero stardom in exchange for some live television laughs.
It was the first time Kravitz, the daughter of singer Lenny Kravitz and actress Lisa Bonet, hosted “Saturday Night Live.”
Here are a few highlights from last night’s episode:
James Austin Johnson is back as Joe Biden, this time for a meeting with a group of Tik Tok stars to discuss how to stop the Russian-Ukraine war via the rising social media platform.
In the meeting, we find an “actress from the CW,” a 12-old girl who does animal makeup, and Jason Derulo — all major names on Tik Tok.
Running the meeting is Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki, played by Kate McKinnon, who suggested the meeting “as a joke and then it actually happened.” Suggestions for ending the war include pushing Putin down five flights of stairs as a prank.
The skit pokes fun at young people who try to performatively help Ukraine via Tik Tok, posting videos titled “5 ways you can help Ukraine,” in which they dance to funky music and point to text boxes with apparent resources.
Zoë Kravitz didn’t get much time to talk in her own monologue last night after being bombarded by Catwoman’s past. Kate McKinnon barges into yet another host’s monologue, this time dressed in a black leather Catwoman suit.
Ego Nwodim, Aidy Bryant, and Chris Redd also make cameo appearances as their rendition of Catwomen. Kravitz received possibly the least amount of solo time in the opening monologue of any other host this season, only having time to say, “We have a great show for you tonight.”
The lack of focus on the actual host seemed to disconnect her and the audience throughout the rest of the episode, as we hardly got to meet her during her introduction.
Arguably one of the best series from this season, “Please Don’t Destroy” features a group of SNL writers behind the scenes as they interact with hosts and cast members going on gimmicky adventures around the writer’s room.
In this episode, the boys got Kravitz a gift — a cat for Catwoman. However, getting “the smallest and fastest cat they had” wasn’t a good idea after it gets lost. They recruit Kravtiz to help look around the room.
In the process, they find a dog hidden in a drawer and Paul Dano hidden under the couch. They eventually find the cat and then lose her again. After the loss of Ben’s Lego set, Kravitz eventually finds her new pet.
Amazon’s mini-stores, first built in 2018, seem like amazing technology — you enter the store, scan your Amazon Go app, grab what you want, and leave the store. You don’t have to pay, and there aren’t even any checkout cashiers. It uses AI technology to keep track of what you take off the shelf and charges your account.
But not everyone is totally on board. While the white customers go through the store amazed by the technology, all the Black customers are incredibly suspicious, and they’re sure that if they grab things and leave the store they’ll be accused of stealing.
“OK, so it’s a trap,” said Nwodim, playing one of the customers.
Keenan Thompson plays a customer who tries to leave cash at the turnstile just to be sure the authorities aren’t called. Kravtiz’s character goes live on social media as a safeguard if she gets in trouble.
“Alexa! Search Amazon Go store Black man trap,” Redd shouts to the store.
Tiny Chris Redd in a frog suit meets Princess Tiana, played by Zoë Kravitz, in the classic Disney film “Princess and the Frog,” shown on “Disney minus, the movies Disney doesn’t really promote as much.”
Just as they’re about to kiss, Tiana realizes the truth about her frog love interest, that frogs don’t have penises, and she’s starting to have second thoughts.
“This didn’t come up when we dissected frogs in high school,” Kravitz said, which catches Redd totally off guard. He also realizes that humans can’t lay eggs. Ultimately, the princess and the frog decide to call things off. It turns out they aren’t meant to be together after all.
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