What makes Saturday Night Live one of a kind is also what makes it so consistently inconsistent. By putting the show together in a week and filming it live on Saturdays (and, in the last four episodes of this season, live in every time zone), SNL can summon the impressive, ramshackle charms of live theater even when it fails to produce a reliable laugh. One such example can be seen in this new video from the late-night juggernaut, which depicts Kate McKinnon’s breakneck transformation from her Forrest Gumpian take on Jeff Sessions to the revolting Shud the Mermaid. And us former theater kids thought a simple outfit change was tough.
The 90-second time-lapse clip gives us a glimpse into the lightning-fast makeup job SNL artists Louie Zakarian and Jason Milani need to execute during the commercial break separating the sketches. The video is also a testament to McKinnon’s talent and versatility—with barely a moment to breathe, she seamlessly leaps between the two disparate characters (though we can all agree Sessions is as gross inside as Shud is outside).
Impressive though it is, couldn’t they skirt stressful situations such as these by perhaps not putting McKinnon in every single sketch?