‘SNL’ Cast Evaluation: Kate McKinnon Is The Show’s Undisputed MVP

There are numerous reasons Kate McKinnon is Saturday Night Live‘s indisputable MVP, the most obvious of which is that she rarely fails to get a laugh. You could watch her complete output over three-and-a-half seasons on the show and struggle to find so much as a joke that didn’t work, much less an entire sketch or character.

From world leaders to pop superstars to newly arrived immigrants just trying to survive, McKinnon, with two Emmy nominations for acting (she also earned one for writing, see below) has a knack for imbuing her characters with a compassionate, upbeat humanity, while finding or creating a unique trait from which to extrapolate a humorous storyline.

But the larger secret to McKinnon’s success is that her characters are, by and large, scamps. From Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Justin Bieber, McKinnon’s portrayals turn her subjects into good, fun-loving people with a pronounced innocence. Even when they’re bad, it’s a G-rated, short-sheet-the-bed kind of bad, the sort that earns you a stern finger-wagging and possibly the loss of dessert.

Many of McKinnon’s characters exude a hint of childlike mischief. They are rarely crass and never mean, but boy, do they want to be naughty. They are also – her impressions more than her original characters – defined by movement, always dancing, bopping, squirming around. Within every McKinnon interpretation, there’s a hyperactive child just dying to end the sketch so she can ride her bike down a hill.

The other trait McKinnon’s characters share is that no matter who she portrays, she turns them into someone to root for.

Ellen DeGeneres

McKinnon’s first impression that made a mark was DeGeneres, and as a talk show host who dances on her every show, she couldn’t have been a more perfect beginning. McKinnon’s physicality is an essential aspect of her portrayals. For her first time as Ellen, she mimicked the loose-limbed gyrations that begin her show, and manifested the host’s love of all things adorable by sending her into gymnastic convulsions at the sight of cute children, limbs outstretched as if outside her control.

But more than anything, the impression resonated for capturing how DeGeneres has created an empire out of aw-shucks goodness, even exclaiming, “hey look, it’s me!” when she sees her name on screen. When she asks her DJ to play the hardest rap song he knows, he responds with a beat derived from Outkast’s “Hey Ya!”

Angela Merkel/Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Kate McKinnon turns Merkle, the powerful leader of Germany, into a frustrated, often flabbergasted gal trying to do a decent job in the face of insanity all around her. And, she’s a gal with a crush – she would only turn her back to Barack Obama in “the fun way.” When she adds, “his Keystone pipeline is XL,” it’s followed by an inaudible gasp, a wide-eyed acknowledgment that screams, “can you believe I just said that???” One million Syrians want to sleep on her couch and her favorite blazer has been discontinued at the Short and Boxy, but McKinnon’s Merkel wants only to grow her hair, wear a belly shirt and run wild.

Her Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the other side of the confidence coin. Despite being 82, every morning she does “100 push-ups, 100 laps in the bathtub,” then she does P90X, where “I pee 90 times.” Like Merkle, Ginsburg throws a “can you believe I said that!” button on her most devilish punchlines, but rather than lusty fantasies, Ginsburg engages in putdowns – like how Judge Antonin Scalia “looks like he’s permanently hooked up to an IV bag of Bolognese” – to prove that her age doesn’t mean she can’t throw a punch, verbally speaking.

But McKinnon wisely differentiates the similar gesture. Rather than just relying on facial expressions, Ginsburg celebrates her slams with a saucy catchphrase – “you just got Ginsburned!” – followed by the judicial equivalent of an end zone dance.

McKinnon’s Ginsburg and Merkle are different women with different attitudes, but in both, the actress humanizes larger-than-life world figures, bringing them down to earth in a way that doesn’t diminish their stature, but rather attempts to show us that within the icons, there are woman with hopes and fears, insecurities and dreams, the will to fight and the desire to love.

Justin Bieber

Sure, Justin Bieber is obnoxious. But for McKinnon, this rambunctious behavior manifests as playful, and Bieber as a hyperactive child just trying to make you smile while ensuring he’s always the center of attention.

McKinnon takes Bieber’s youth to an extreme, showing him grow tired after a hyper fit like a wound-up child, whining as if in need of a burping and a nap. Check out his fake Calvin Klein commercial, which he ends by spreading his arms wide and making believe he’s an airplane.

The key to McKinnon’s Bieber is movement. Her Justin never stands still. He’s in a state of constant flow, confident energy keeping him bouncing and bopping, ever ready for a sultry pose or swaggerlicious pout. While certainly mocking the real Bieber’s antics, the ultimate effect is rehabilitative, as McKinnon’s Bieber is too gentle and harmless to dislike.

Hillary Clinton

When Amy Poehler played Hillary Clinton on SNL, the character was driven by Clinton’s insecurities and peccadilloes, as with her bubbling glee in any victory that allowed her to mock those she defeated, even once stating, “I’m just not going to lose gracefully.” The most knowing aspect of Poehler’s Clinton is her laugh, the artificial, arrhythmic squawk that indicates anything but happiness; a bridge to the insane that mocks Clinton’s authenticity troubles while also acknowledging her inability to express a legitimate negative emotion without being taken to the woodshed for it.

McKinnon’s Clinton shows no such weaknesses.

Her Hillary has one mindset – the desire to be president at any and all cost. That’s it. While Poehler’s 2008 Hillary still had hope, 2015/2016 Hillary saw where that got her, and she won’t make that mistake again. McKinnon’s Hillary leaves nothing to chance. She will be president by sheer force of will, and no sign of insecurity shall pass through her determined visage.

When asked to declare her presidential candidacy through online video, she stares into the cell phone camera and says, “Citizens! You will elect me! I will be your leader!” Asked to avoid saying “I” or her name in a second take, she begins it, “Hello! Tis I, Hillary Clinton!”

At a time when the real Clinton faces surprising backlash among female voters for the appearance of inauthenticity and lack of a defining message – a question of why she wants to be president, other than just to be president – it will be intriguing to see how the image of a power-mad, win-at-all-costs Hillary on SNL affects the real-life discussion.

Twin Bed

The video “(Do It On My) Twin Bed” deserves special mention here, not for McKinnon’s performance – the entire cast, led by the women, all crushed it – but because she co-wrote the sketch (with castmate Aidy Bryant and SNL writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider), and was nominated for an Emmy for it.

“Twin Bed” was a specific and brilliant piece of writing, an economical video that fed so many cliches of visiting home for the holidays, yet made every one feel fresh. Watching it for this article, I was surprised to see it’s only 3:38 long, as the amount of comedic information in the sketch, from Vanessa Bayer’s monkey sheets and Cecily Strong’s peeping-tom kitty cat to the cast’s junior high school photos, is astounding.

“Twin Bed” is as close to a perfect sketch as SNL has ever aired, and most likely the sexiest sketch in the show’s history. While it’s easy to overpraise a solid sketch, “Twin Bed” deserves every accolade.

[You can stream Saturday Night Live on Hulu]

Larry Getlen is the author of the book Conversations with Carlin. His greatest wish is to see Stefon enjoy a cheeseburger at John Belushi’s diner. Follow him on Twitter at @larrygetlen.