HOME / ENTERTAINMENT / TV

'Saturday Night Live': Kate McKinnon plays Dr Wayne Wenowdis, joyed fans hail her as 'national treasure'

But at one point, McKinnon broke into laughter while playing her character, and both host Colin Jost and McKinnon couldn’t control their guffaws

‘Saturday Night Live’ is back and it premiered its 46th season last Saturday, October 3. For the second episode of this seaon, they gave the hosting duties to Bill Burr. The episode opened with the parody of the October 7 vice-presidential debate between vice-president Mike Pence and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris. They even incorporated the much-discussed "fly moments" from the debate.

On the Weekend Update, the show dealt with topics like President Donald Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis yet again, with host Colin Jost saying that the POTUS broke out of the hospital, "Terminator-style". However, one person who stole the limelight and got Netizens talking was cast member Kate McKinnon. She played the character of Dr Wayne Wenowdis. The "doctor" was invited to give a second opinion on Trump’s medical examination. The character repeatedly kept the phrase “we know this”.

But at one point, McKinnon broke into laughter while playing her character. Both Jost and McKinnon couldn’t control their guffaws. Jost asked, “Kate are you okay?” as she kept laughing while pretending to check his blood pressure. “Obviously, I'm not,” McKinnon answered. The actress then addressed the audience directly and explained, “I'm sorry, you guys. It's such a crazy time, and this is something I started doing to cope. I have a lot of wigs and mustaches at my disposal, and it's a nice way to escape, you know? It's refreshing to play a character whonowdis.” She added about how hard it was to process that we do not know what will happen. “It's like, I mean, who will win the election? We don't know this. When will the pandemic end? We don't know this. What will happen to the world? We do not know this. But, Colin, the one thing that we do know is that... no, we don't know this.”

Then Jost said, “I know that it's very stressful. I know this is very hard right now. I know people are being very resilient about it. I know even though it doesn't seem good, don't worry. You can figure this out, we can do this.”

And Twitter couldn’t help but weigh in on this aspect of the episode. One said, “Yes, Kate McKinnon is a comedic genius but, also, I just really love Colin Jost. This is great.” Another tweeted, “Kate McKinnon is hands down my favorite comedian.” A fan opined, “Is it weird that this kinda made me cry? I just mean... god this year and this world are just so bat sh*t crazy right now... thank you Kate McKinnon for expressing it all so well!” One tweeted, “Kate McKinnon is a national treasure and must be protected at all costs.” Another commented, “Kate McKinnon reminds me of the late Robin Williams. Her humor doesn’t just serve, it heals. To watch her for even a second is to leave your troubles and the world behind. As a new comedy writer, I am reverent. As a human being, I am in awe.” A user stated, “Just saw the Kate McKinnon clip from #SNL tonight and I could see a LOT of America in her break from character. God bless you Kate.”

‘Saturday Night Live’ airs on NBC at 11.30 pm ET.