SNL Revives Dana Carvey’s Church Lady to Judge Our Choices Accordingly
It’s been several years since Dana Carvey’s Church Lady graced us with her benevolent presence, but Church Chat finally returns to SNL — and not a moment too soon. With Donald Trump running for president (what a world) and pop culture run amok, we, as a nation, are truly in need of sage wisdom from Carvey’s shrewdly devout Church Lady.
Carvey revived his iconic character for this week’s cold open, welcoming Ted Cruz (Taran Killam) and Donald Trump (Darrell Hammond) as Church Chat’s special guests. Having given up the primary to Trump, Cruz decides to go ahead and give in to Satan, while Hammond’s Trump levels insults more hilarious than anything his real-life counterpart could manage.
As you’d expect, Church Lady has some thoughts on our current political and cultural landscape, commenting on everything from the aforementioned presidential race / slow-motion horror show to this year’s Met Gala. She has some particularly sassy judgments for Madonna and Beyonce’s respective costumes of choice, but the real delight comes from Killam and Trump, making this one of the season’s better political cold opens — maybe because most of the usual spoofs no longer feel so satirical in light of Trump’s advancement.