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'Saturday Night Live': Maya Rudolph's Statue of Liberty musical skit defends NY, makes fans 'weirdly emotional'

Rudolph appeared as the Statue of the Liberty and parodied ‘I’m Still Here’, to make it clear that New York City was still surviving amid the pandemic

John Mulaney hosted ‘Saturday Night Live’ for the fourth time with The Strokes as the musical guests in the latest episode. This was Mulaney’s second time this year helming hosting duties as he had anchored an episode of Season 45 in February 2020.

During his monologue, Mulaney said that he had spent quarantine binge-watching a new series: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Covid-19 press briefings. He added that the governor seemed to bring his personal problems into the briefing and is apprehensive that the politician will continue the announcements beyond the pandemic. “I am worried that when Covid is over, Cuomo won’t understand that his show’s over,” he joked.

He even spoke of the upcoming elections, but without naming any of the presidential candidates. Mulaney said that he needed to make an announcement about something. “On November 3, there is an elderly man contest. There’s two elderly men and you’re supposed to vote,” he said. “We might have the same elderly man or we might have a new elderly man, nothing much will change in the United States. The rich will continue to prosper while the poor languish. Families will be upended by mental health issues and drug addiction and Jane Lynch will continue to book lots of projects and she’ll deliver.”

Mulaney’s past appearances in the show had a common link – all of them featured musical skits which became quite hit among his fans. The comedian had given many memorable performances. People still talk about the lobster-themed parody of ‘Les Miserables’ sketch ‘Diner Lobster’, where Mulaney played the waiter of the eatery where Davidson orders the lobster. Soon, Kenan Thompson emerges as a life-size bearded lobster in a tank and launches into a rendition of Jean Valjean’s song, 'Who Am I?'. He followed it up with two other musical sketches – ‘Bodega Bathroom’ and ‘Airport Sushi’. This time as well, fans of the show were expecting a musical skit and they didn’t disappoint.

This time, it was set in a Times Square souvenir shop owned by Mulaney that's been affected by Covid-19. Pete Davidson and Chris Redd are customers in the store. At one point, Davidson’s character wanted to buy a pair of ‘I Heart NY’ unwashed underwear and wanted to try them on in a fitting room. This is what triggers a musical performance featuring Kenan Thompson as Minion mascot, Mulaney and a bunch of other Times Square mascots — Bowen Yang as Batman, Lauren Holt is from Frozen, Alex Moffat playing Times Square Elmo and Melissa Villaseñor as Minnie. They broke into a spoof of ‘Luck Be a Lady’. Kate McKinnon appeared as Bubba Gump's Shrimp Louie and parodied ‘Send in the Clowns’ as ‘Send in the Crowds’.

Maya Rudolph appeared as the Statue of Liberty. She parodied ‘I’m Still Here’, to make it clear that New York City was still surviving amid the pandemic. “Fools — you don’t give up on my city that easy” and “I lived through war haul. I lived through Bethenny Frankel. But I’m here” were some of the lines from her portion of the skit. Rudolph’s character made a strong point about her city and emphasized that “But I’m here”.

Twitterati was discussing the skit – and lauding Rudolph as well. One fan said, "I'M STILL HERE" for @SNL's homage to #NYC/#Broadway sketch. @MayaRudolph as Lady Liberty & #KateMcKinnon as Bubba Gump shrimp = all the feels. Laughing, crying & missing The City so much. #SNL.” Another opined, “First #KateMcKinnon made me cry with "where are the crowds?" in andeserted, hopeless NYC, & then, iconic @MayaRudolph emerges as the secret weapon in the new #SNL #MulaneyMusical. Sing on, Lady Liberty. Here's to our collective resilience.” Another stated, “Maybe I'm just overly emotional right now because of literally everything, but Maya Rudolph dressed as the Statue of Liberty singing revamped lyrics to "I'm Still Here" GOT ME.”

A fan declared, “Oh my freaking god, @MayaRudolph looks so amazing tonight, dressing up as Lady Liberty! This is why I’m having the best day of my entire life...” Another opined, “This Broadway Times Square sketch and Maya Rudolph as the Statue of Liberty is making me weirdly emotional? I love this city so much. We’re still here baby!” One stated, “I have something I need to say. I really appreciate the Mulaney musical sketches on SNL.” Another fan said, “Things I am thankful for: John Mulaney musical spoof sketches on.”

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