Since 1975, “Saturday Night Live,” or “SNL,” has aired every Saturday night on NBC. On Oct. 9, celebrity and influencer Kim Kardashian made her “SNL” debut as the host, participating in comedy skits for the shows second episode of the 47th season.
“I have been a fan of Kim since ‘Keeping Up with The Kardashians’ started. I feel like the Kardashian’s have been taking over social media for some time now, especially since Kourtney’s recent engagement to Travis Barker,” said junior Olivia Caron.
Kardashian’s opening remarks began with a reference to her 2007 boyfriend, singer/actor Ray J, and their infamous sex tape that was leaked.
According to CNN Entertainment, her opening monologue kept viewers intrigued.
In her monologue, Kardashian said, “I know, I’m surprised to see me here too. When they asked, I was like ‘You want me to host? Why?’ I haven’t had a movie premiere in a long time. I mean actually, I only had that one movie come out and no one told me it was even premiering.”
Kardashian continued to crack jokes about the rest of her family, even calling out her recent divorce to singer Kanye West.
“I honestly was not expecting that kind of performance from Kim. She roasted her family at the start of the show and that was probably one of the reasons why I had to keep watching,” said junior Amanda Kailher.
Ultimately, the sketches following her monologue centered around similar themes involving money, love and family. Kardashian took part is several skits including “Ladies Night Out,” “The People’s Kourt,” and “The Dream Guys.”
“I have to say that my favorite performance with Kim had to be ‘The People’s Kourt’ skit. She played as her sister Kourtney Kardashian, and we saw small guest performances from both Kris and Khloe Kardashian too. Not to mention her iconic Met Gala dress,” said Kailher.
According to Fox News, “SNL” saw a boost in ratings due to the clout of the “mega-watt” influencer. Kardashian “pulled in 5.2 million views, causing a 7% increase in viewership.”
“It’s truly no surprise to me that the viewership for ‘SNL’ went up because of Kim. She has over 200 million followers on Instagram and somewhere between 70 and 80 million followers on Twitter,” said Caron.
According to Fox News, until the most recent episode, “Saturday Night Live” has been down in premiere ratings nearly 50% compared to its previous seasons.
According to IMDb, some viewers feel that the show has lost its touch and using too much political humor has a lot to do with the drop of viewership.
“I’ve been watching ‘SNL’ for a couple years now. I really enjoy watching older skits on YouTube try to catch every week’s show. Kim was definitely a non-traditional celebrity to have on the show this season and I think that helped,” said junior Aidan Sacco.
Writer for The Hollywood Reporter, Lovia Gyarkye, reviewed Kardashian’s performance as “stiff but overall capturing the comical tone of the show.”
Gyarkey said “The hype surrounding Kardashian West ended up being more interesting and exciting than the actual episode… This would be time to ponder whether her performance here could spell another career shift.”
The show is available to watch on streaming services including Hulu, YouTube TV, and Amazon Prime Video with premium subscription.
“I’ve been waiting for an episode like this for a while. I really enjoyed Kim’s dry comedic performance and hope that ‘SNL’ continues with this type of comedy. Her social media influence defiantly helped the show and I hope they have more guests like her in the future,” said Sacco.
