Saturday Night Live has been struggling with its cold opens in recent months, but the show scored a major hit this week by mocking pretty much everything about this week’s State of the Union address, from the pace at which Joe Biden (Mikey Day) made his way to the stage to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s general shenanigans. But the real star of Wednesday night—for all the wrong reasons—was Alabama senator Katie Britt, and her kitchen.
SNL pulled out the big guns by featuring two-time Oscar nominee—and wife of “Weekend Update” co-anchor Colin Jost—Scarlett Johansson as Britt. The sketch was set up as part of a report from CNN’s Abby Phillip (Ego Nwodim), with Johansson turning it into an audition for what she deemed “the part of Scary Mom, and I’ll be performing an original monologue called ‘This Country is Hell.’”
“You see, I’m not just a senator,” Britt said, by way of introduction. “I’m a wife, a mother, and the craziest bitch in the Target parking lot. I’m worried about the future of our children, and this is why I’ve invited you into this strange, empty kitchen. Because Republicans want me to appeal to women voters, and women love kitchens.”
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Johansson perfectly captured Britt’s now-viral theatrics, including her jarring changes in tone and sound level and audibly visible dissection of syllables.
“First and foremost, I’m a mom,” she explained. “And like any mom, I’m going to do a pivot out of nowhere into a shockingly violent story about sex trafficking. And rest assured, every detail about it is real—except the year, where it took place, and who was president when it happened,” Britt promised of the anecdote she shared, the veracity of which has since been called into question.
But like any good C-list actress, Johansson’s Britt told viewers that she wasn’t just there to comment on Biden’s SOTU speech—she also went full HSN mode to sell more of the “gorgeous bejeweled cross necklace” that Britt was wearing.
“This infinity diamond necklace goes with anything,” Britt promised, encouraging voters to buy it because you could easily wear it “from da church to da club.”
