Thor star Chris Hemsworth doesn’t have much comedy experience in his background, but that didn’t stop him from hosting Saturday Night Live this week. In the episode, he played a Disney Channel star, a new character on Empire and, of course, his favorite Norse demigod — but how was the episode as a whole? Read on to find out.
The cold open featured Hillary Clinton (Kate McKinnon) declaring that she’s been waiting all her life to run for president. She then added the halfhearted disclaimer: “I’m so iffy on the whole thing.”
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In Hemsworth’s monologue, he brought out his two real-life brothers, Luke and Liam, and a not-so-real brother, Callum (Kenan Thompson). “He’s from a place in the northern territory, which is called Atlanta,” Chris explained about Callum. Later, their mom (McKinnon) came out, telling her bulky sons, “You boys have ruined my body.”
Hemsworth appeared in a strong sendup of the American Express ad campaign that features celebrities. “They said I’d never look cool with sunglasses, but check this out — boom,” the star said in a pair of shades.
A sketch mocking the Disney Channel involved Hemsworth and castmember Taran Killam on a show called Brother 2 Brother, where they played siblings who weren’t as similar-looking as they thought. “Matty’s butt is different ’cause Matty’s is, like, hard and round and up, and yours is like, ‘I go to the bathroom on this thing,’ ” a classmate of Killam’s character informed him when he pretended to take his brother’s place in class.
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It’s no surprise that SNL would tackle Fox’s Empire, given how buzzy the drama series has become. “Now, we’ve got a white dude with khakis,” proclaimed an ad for the show as it introduced Chip, the office manager.
Speaking of hip-hop, McKinnon showed off her impressive Iggy Azalea impression, with Hemsworth playing her white-rapper pal. Hemsworth’s character advised using gun sounds when you run out of words to say.
Weekend Update saw a return of Leslie Jones as the relationship expert. A strong bit involved Colin Jost and Michael Che taking presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson to task for his anti-gay stance.
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Other enjoyable sketches included a news report about the Avengers’ recent victory — with Thor shaking his groove thang and inviting everyone to celebrate at Dave & Buster’s — and a sci-fi skit with Hemsworth falling in love with a chicken. Watching Hemsworth try to have a heart-to-heart with the bird was priceless.
Hemsworth proved to have a surprising amount of range, and while most sketches played up his good looks, he wasn’t afraid to clown around and get silly. Perhaps he should consider a comedy film in his future, especially since there won’t be a Blackhat 2 anytime soon.
Three best sketches of the night
1. Sci-fi chicken
2. Brother 2 Brother
3. American Express
We will add video as soon as it becomes available.
Email: Ryan.Gajewski@thr.com
Twitter: @_RyanGajewski
