When it was announced that Kim Kardashian West would be hosting Saturday Night Live this season, it’s probably fair to assume that many people had fairly low expectations. After all, the family’s long-running TV show featured some spectacularly hackneyed line reads and that was allegedly reality. But something to remember about Kim is that she is used to people’s low expectations of her—and has become a true pro when it comes to flipping those expectations upside-down. Never underestimate Kim, that’s the lesson here.
So with that in mind, you’ll be unsurprised to hear that her SNL monologue was genuinely funny—and, for someone who carefully orchestrates her public image as much as Kim does, surprisingly revealing! She really went there, joking about her late dad, Robert Kardashian’s defense of O.J. Simpson, her mom’s helicopterish momagerial style, and her relationship with Kanye, whom she divorced earlier this year. (Though the two remain close, and he reportedly even visited her on-set and offered advice as she prepared for her SNL debut.)
“I married the best rapper of all time,” Kim said of her ex-husband during the monologue. “And not only that, he’s the richest Black man in America; a talented, legit genius who gave me four incredible kids. So when I divorced him, you have to know that it came down to just one thing: His personality.” (The line got applause, though she admitted that it sounded “mean.”)
Kim and Kanye leave their NYC hotel this week, where he helped her prepare for her ’SNL’ debut.
Other jokes that felt a little barbed? Kim’s praise of her mom Kris, for having the foresight to avoid a certain unsavory name. “With all of the ‘K’ names it’s really impressive that my mom didn’t pick ‘Karen.’ Somehow she just knew,” said Kim. “I don’t know how she saw that one coming and not Caitlyn.” Yow.
Caitlyn and Kanye bore the brunt of the jokes that Kim made—at one point, she even got them both at the same time by faking an announcement for a political run and then saying she was kidding because “we can’t have three failed politicians in one family”—but her sisters didn’t get out entirely unscathed. After introducing how she wanted to host the sketch show in order to show she was more than just a pretty face “and good hair, and great makeup, and amazing boobs, and a perfect butt,” she added, “Basically, I’m just so much more than that reference photo my sisters showed their plastic surgeons.” That is savage. Well done, Kim, for understanding the assignment.
Watch the entire monologue below:
Petition to have Kim back to host again, anyone?