Scarlett Johansson recreates Katie Britt's historically weird State of the Union speech
The 'SNL' sketch nailed one of the more truly bizarre moments in modern politics.
When Republican Senator Katie Britt made her questionable at best rebuttal to Thursday’s State of the Union, it was pretty much expected to become the subject of a “Saturday Night Live” skit. It was practically a parody in itself, so absurd it didn’t even land well with her own party.
But to everyone’s surprise—and delight— “SNL” nabbed Scarlett Johansson to play Britt (perhaps as a favor to her husband Colin Jost?), and she absolutely nailed the senator’s laughable-yet-borderline-terrifying original delivery during the show’s cold open.Donning an near-exact replica of Britt’s cross necklace and emerald green blouse, Johansson “auditions for the role of scary mom” with what she calls “an original monologue called ‘This Country is Hell,” an obvious nod to the outright fiction of Britt’s rebuttal.
Complete with oddly placed giggles, astonished eyes conveying worry like an Oscar depended on it, and “getting weirdly seductive for no apparent reason,” Johansson flawlessly recreates Britt’s now infamous speech, especially the part where she “pivots out of nowhere into a shockingly violent story about sex trafficking. And rest assured, every detail about it is real. Except the year, where it took place and who was president when it happened.”
And this of course takes palace in the kitchen, just as Britt’s did, “because Republicans want me to appeal to woman voters, and women love kitchen.
Things take an even darker turn when Johansson mimics the tea-cup hypnosis scene from Jordan Peele’s “Get Out”—a reference made even creepier by how accurate it is—before assuring the American people “we hear you, we see you, we smell you. We're inside your kitchen right now looking through your fridge.”
And while the sketch received a ton of positive feedback, especially regarding Johanson’s performance, this comment takes the cake:
“When the source material is 500% stranger than the parody - we're in new territory.”
Watch the full segment below. And if you’ve missed Britt’s stranger-than-fiction original video, give it a whirl here.
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