Kris Jenner Reveals Her Own Issues With Kim Kardashian Hosting 'SNL'
Longtime Saturday Night Live fans weren't the only ones nervous about the idea of Kim Kardashian hosting an episode of the long-running sketch comedy series. Her mother, Kris Jenner, was also worried and admitted to having little confidence that Kardashian could pull it off. In the end, Jenner was proud of her daughter's performance, even if she told jokes at her family's expense.
"My daughter, I love her so much, but she was on Dancing With the Stars and couldn't put two steps together," Jenner said during a stop on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Friday. "Now she's on another really major show, and I was a bit nervous, thinking, 'Please, let's go back to dancing.' She's not a comedian." Jenner was referring to her daughter's ill-fated run on Dancing With the Stars in 2008 when she was the third contestant sent home.
The SNL writers crafted plenty of jokes about the Kardashian family that Kim had no reservations about delivering. She made fun of herself, her ex-husband Kanye West, and even her late father Robert Kardashian's work defending O.J. Simpson. Kardashian even roasted her sisters' plastic surgeries and her mother's marriage to Caitlyn Jenner. One of the monologue jokes included a reference to Kardashian's infamous 2007 sex tape with Ray J.
Jenner understood the jokes were all made in good fun. "The things that she said, the jokes she told, were so obviously silly to us as a family that it was just worth mentioning and making fun of," Jenner told DeGeneres while wearing a Cruella de Vil Halloween costume. "We don't take ourselves too seriously. We know how to be in on the joke and have a good time. She ran every joke by every single one of us."
Kardashian, who never hosted SNL before taking over the Oct. 9 episode, was reportedly pleased with her performance. A source close to the reality TV star told Entertainment Tonight she had an "incredible time" on the show. "Her family and friends are so proud of her and thought she was hilarious. She felt supported by them and feels confident in how she did. It was so nice for her to have her close friends and family there and cheering her on, including Kanye," the source said.
One person critical of Kardashian's monologue was Tanya Brown, the sister of Simpson's late ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. Brown was not happy with Kardashian asking the audience to take a "stab in the dark" at guessing who the first Black person her father introduced her to. "I know it's sort of weird to remember the first Black person you met, but O.J. does leave a mark. Or several! Or none at all. I still don't know," Kardashian said. Brown told TMZ the joke was in "poor taste" and "beyond inappropriate and insensitive."