text: Saturday Night Live got off to a slow start this weekend, but Aidy Bryant’s performance as Sarah Huckabee Sanders singlehandedly saved the day. Cutting abruptly from a formal setting to an elaborately choreographed musical number is as a close to a surefire laugh as there is, but Bryant really sells this, singing and dancing her way through Demi Lovato’s “Confident” like Sean Spicer wants his old job back. What’s more, her impression of the press secretary—which started as just an accent and a joke about her mother being “a big southern hamburger” —is starting to capture the blithe obliviousness that is Sanders’ stock in trade. 
   
   But the sketch also shows an admirable commitment to going further for a laugh than status-quo Donald Trump sketches, which often do rely on the fact that Trump’s incompetence and stupidity should be funny enough on their own. (They’re not, at least not anymore.) Saturday Night Live’s best political work of late—“Through Donald Trump’s Eyes,” “Kellywise”—is the stuff that acknowledges up front that we’re living a nightmare, then uses the language and logic of bad dreams to respond. This sketch reminds us that every nightmare—even the one about the press secretary who blithely insults the entire country’s intelligence on a daily basis—is somebody else’s dream. ||||| Larry David’s monologue on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live was pretty, pretty, pretty — well, not great, according to some people. 
   
   The Curb Your Enthusiasm star ended his opening words with a run of jokes that left a poor taste in many viewers’ mouths: “I’ve always been obsessed with women, and I’ve often wondered: If I’d grown up in Poland when Hitler came to power and was sent to a concentration camp, would I still be checking out women in the camp?” he started before imagining what kind of conversation he’d have with another guy as they figured out how to flirt. 
   
   “The problem is, there are no good opening lines in a concentration camp,” he continued, then proposed some: “‘How’s it going? They treatin’ you okay? You know, if we ever get out of here, I’d love to take you out for some latkes. You like latkes?’” 
   
   Although many Twitter users were not fans of David’s bit, some defended it: “Larry David may be the most important Jewish comedian ever,” user Barret tweeted. “He’s allowed to make concentration camp jokes.” 
   
   See Twitter’s less positive reactions to the joke below, and stay tuned for EW’s full recap on the night’s episode, hosted by David and featuring musical guest Miley Cyrus. 
   
   Larry David went from making me laugh about his Jew jokes to making me cringe. #PleaseStopJokingAboutConcentrationCamps #SNL #LarryDavid — David Solkowitz (@itz_Daveed) November 5, 2017 
   
   Larry David is making jokes about hitler and harassment of women! God this is awful and awkward! #snl #SNL2017 — Cassidy (@_Cx2_) November 5, 2017 
   
   Just when you thought Larry David's #SNL monologue couldn't get worse, he joked about seducing women in concentration camps. Wow. #HeBombed — Dan Riley (@ThreeColumnsArt) November 5, 2017 
   
   Larry David making a joke about hitting on women in concentration camps #SNL #awkward pic.twitter.com/tmcWADk4n5 — Melissa S. (@omgitsmeli) November 5, 2017 
   
   Larry David's concentration camp bit is just blehhhhhh. Feels tired for all its attempts at whatever it's attempting. — NamoInExelsis (@NamoInExile) November 5, 2017 ||||| Donald Trump took a naked shower with Paul Manafort on Saturday Night Live tonight, and yes, things got weirder from there. 
   
   Kicking the episode off in classic SNL fashion, Alec Baldwin reprised his role as Trump – the real-life version of whom is on his first trip to Asia as president, the late night version of whom snuck off to check on his old buddy Manafort (Alex Moffat) after his no good very bad week. 
   
   But don’t worry. Melania is happy with the (very) fake lookalike Baldwin’s Trump sent along in his stead. In fact, she’s falling in love! 
   
   To make absolutely sure Manafort isn’t wearing a wire, Trump insisted the pair pop in the shower together, as one does. He even got in a shot at the Hollywood scandal du jour. 
   
   “What an idiot that Harvey Weinstein is; he could’ve gotten away with all of it if only he’d gotten himself elected president,” Baldwin said to a chorus of audience groans. 
   
   And not just a regular naked shower with the sitting president of the United States either! 
   
   This one had special guests: Vice President Mike Pence (Beck Bennett) and everyone’s favorite Keebler elf, Attorney General Jeff Sessions (Kate McKinnon). 
   
   “I’m wearing a bathing costume that I got from my favorite place – the 1890s,” McKinnon said in her practiced Sessionsian drawl. “Plus I thought we should get all used to wearing stripes.” 
   
   The trio of executive authority, or perhaps, the SNL writers, ultimately determined the best course of action to save a Manafort who seems destined for prison would involve a presidential turkey pardon. Unless, of course, the Trump family accidentally eats him. 
   
   A man can dream.
target: – Saturday Night Live covered a lot of ground in its most recent episode, from President Trump and Paul Manafort naked together in the shower to Larry David making ill-received concentration camp jokes. Alec Baldwin kicked off the show as Trump talking to Manafort in the wake of his disastrous week, heading to the shower as a way to ensure that Manafort isn't wearing a wire, notes Mashable. Joining them are Kate McKinnon as Jeff Sessions ("I’m wearing a bathing costume that I got from my favorite place—the 1890s," she drawls. "Plus I thought we should get all used to wearing stripes.") and Beck Bennett as VP Mike Pence. Meanwhile, at the SNL version of the White House, Aidy Bryant brought back her impersonation of Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders that Slate says "singlehandedly saved the day." But guest-host David is taking some heat over his monologue, notes People, in which he cracked that “I’ve always been obsessed with women, and I’ve often wondered: If I’d grown up in Poland when Hitler came to power and was sent to a concentration camp, would I still be checking out women in the camp?" he wondered before musing about flirting. "The problem is, there are no good opening lines in a concentration camp."