Saturday Night Live poked fun at Dua Lipa and The Weeknd in the latest installment of “The Dionne Warwick Talk Show.” SNL cast member Ego Nwodim plays Warwick in the recurring sketch, with a parody of the singer’s brash commentary from social media. This week, fellow cast members turned up with celebrity impressions to spice up the sketch.
Melissa Villaseñor played Dua Lipa and Kenan Thompson played The Weeknd, while Pete Davidson played his real-life friend Machine Gun Kelly and host Nick Jonas joined in as himself. All of the impressions had fans cackling, both in the live audience and on social media. While the new characters were well-received, Nwodim’s take on Warwick remained the clear centerpiece of the whole thing. Her disinterested questions put the celebrities — both real and fake — on the spot.
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“Okay, what is your whole… situation?” she asked to begin her conversation with The Weeknd. She went on with questions like: “You are addicted to plastic surgery, correct?” and “Why are you from Canada. Thompson’s impression of The Weeknd was relatively straightforward, but Warwick’s teasing was merciless. When he reminded her that he had just performed at the Super Bowl, she said: “Yes, you gave me vertigo.”
With Jonas, Warwick was teasingly flirtatious, but still dismissive as well. She tried to rope the singer into her feud with talk show host Wendy Williams — a recurring but in the sketch — and when that didn’t work she sent him off stage unceremoniously. She had more luck with the fictional Dua Lipa, who agreed to egg Williams’ house with Warwick.
Finally, Nwodim’s Warwick sent Davidson’s MGK away without a single question, leaving time for a few more bars of singing. The sketch was one of the strongest five minutes of the episode, and fans were generally positive in the comments.
“This whole sketch is OUTTA POCKET,” one person wrote. Another added: “This is just a wonderful conceit for a skit. Older lady is famous enough that she can just demand people explain popular culture to her,” while a third wrote: “Miss Ego surprising us with that soft lyrical beauty. I’d love to see her get a digital short song or something exploring it more.”
Saturday Night Live will be off for a month before its next new episode, with host Maya Rudolph and musical guest Jack Harlow. The show returns on Saturday, March 27 at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
