Girl Gaga Introduced the Absurd to ‘SNL’

Girl Gaga made her title bringing a contact of strangeness to no matter she does, and on Saturday Evening Reside final night time, the place she performed the host and musical visitor, she delivered with over-the-top costumes and theatrical choreography in performances of songs off her new album, Mayhem.

For the 2 musical interludes, Gaga was at her most exacting and confrontational. Throughout the darkish pop-dance monitor “Abracadabra,” she lorded over a horde of stone-faced dancers like a priestess of terror, sporting a glittery purple, full-body jumpsuit and wielding a cane—hunching over when she wasn’t executing the beating dance. For a efficiency of “Killah,” she donned an oversize purple swimsuit with ballooning shoulders. She appeared to channel each David Byrne and Prince as she pranced by way of the studio’s halls, sometimes writhing on the ground.

These acts had been mesmerizing shows of Gaga committing to the eccentric. However the artist’s expertise for the absurd translated to this week’s comedy too. Practically the entire sketches wherein she appeared had been the form of comedy that you just both discover hilarious or don’t get. The premises had been a bit of difficult and surreal, utilizing Gaga’s oddball vitality to their benefit.

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Take, as an example, the primary sketch after the monologue, titled “A Lengthy Goodbye.” Gaga, in a demure polka-dotted costume and bangs that recalled Zooey Deschanel, at first seemed to be enjoying one thing of a normie. The music insinuated a sentimental scene: Her character was unhappy to be leaving her boyfriend (Marcello Hernandez) to go to check cooking in Paris; Hernandez, holding an actual black pug, wouldn’t be part of her in France, saying he would drag her down.

Shortly, although, the setup veered towards the preposterous. To go to the airport, Gaga hopped on “rideable baggage”—a suitcase that doubled as a scooter. She took it on the freeway, the place she met a biker gang that additionally used rideable baggage. However the flaws of the selection revealed themselves, slicing off the maudlin romantic tones that every character evoked: The suitcases had been sluggish, resulting in a recurring bit the place every character broke from their tenderness to scream for honking automobiles to “go round.” Finally, her man set out in pursuit of her, utilizing the identical impractical type of transit. One other ludicrous actuality grew to become clear—the battery on the scooter ran out, which turned out to be nice, as a result of his canine had adopted him by itself rideable suitcase. The entire sketch blended melodrama with inanity to nice impact.

Elsewhere she performed a Satanic Pleasant’s worker, in addition to a funeral director who actually wished to throw a Roaring ’20s–themed funeral. However maybe her biggest position of the night time was reverse Bowen Yang in “Great Tonight,” a few couple on a primary date in a flowery restaurant with Eighties vibes. Yang as Gianfranco, in a soul patch and a bolo tie, requested Gaga as Janelle to bounce when she introduced that she liked the track being performed—the corny traditional “Great Tonight” by Eric Clapton. Initially, they carried out the lyrics as written whereas swaying collectively. Then they went off guide.

Yang wistfully belted, “It’s later that night, and we’re wasted in Occasions Sq.,” to which Gaga responded, “So I eat a full Huge Mac and I shave off my physique hair.” As they continued, the track grew odder and odder, involving traces about nipple play and the way “Italians aren’t white.” The punch line: These two freaky individuals had been excellent for one another. Gaga, who wore a form-fitting purple costume, did not look as ridiculous as Yang did, however she made up for that in her deadpan line deliveries and almost-too-good harmonies.

“Great Tonight” once more felt like an acquired style of a sketch, at occasions off-putting in its goofiness and random in its references. It labored, although, due to Gaga’s dedication to getting as weird as potential whereas nonetheless utilizing her well-known pipes to their full potential. That’s the Gaga specialty, which SNL understood: She is aware of that artwork will be extra intriguing when it’s a bit of outlandish. It might be a tad inexplicable, nevertheless it’s entrancing all the identical.