Double-duty on “Saturday Night Live” — as the host and musical guest — is a double-edged sword. The people who are gifted at both, like Donald Glover and Ariana Grande in recent years, usually nail it, appearing in nearly every sketch in the 90-minute show as well as elaborately rendered musical performances. The less-successful tend to do a hesitant, self-referential introductory opening monologue then appear in a small number of skits, and leave the rest to the professionals.
But Charli xcx, who has been an accomplished musician since her early teens but has limited acting experience, nailed her double duty stint on Saturday night, appearing in nearly every sketch, channeling Adele — expertly — Victoria Beckham and her friend and tour-mate Troye Sivan (with Bowen Yang reprising his Charli impersonation) in a mock “Wicked” audition; playing a psycho suburban housewife with Andy Samberg in a Lonely Island digital short, the female sidekick in a parody of a toxic Trump-bro podcast, Shrek’s love interest, and even intentionally sang badly in a skit based around Chappell Roan’s “Hot to Go.” She even had the real Julia — Julia Fox — introduce her first musical performance, “360,” while Yang introduced her second song, a heavily autotuned “Sympathy Is a Knife.”
In her opening monologue, she did the obligatory who-I-am-for-those-who-don’t-know positioning, nodding to her LGBTQ fans in the first minute: “For those of you who recognize me, you might know me from my album ‘Brat,’ but don’t worry if you don’t… there is nothing wrong with being straight,” to laughter. Yet the “Brat” phenomenon, which could have been a one-note joke for the rest of the show (as it was in a weak teaser video with Chloe Fineman), was barely mentioned again.
Not every skit landed — hey, it’s “SNL” — but a high percentage of them did, adding up to one of the best shows of the year. Fans barely got a bathroom break — she even starred in a skit that did not air (but was released online) called “Mean Cute” that flexed her acting muscles in other ways.
Late last month, Charli told Variety that she’d gotten some encouragement about the stint from her friend Ariana Grande, who did double duty herself earlier this season. Grande appears on Charli’s “Brat” remix album; the two also share a manager in Brandon Creed.
“It’s such a big thing, isn’t it, so I’m nervous,” she admitted. “But I was with Ariana last night — she obviously just did it and killed it, so I was getting tips from her. She was just like, ‘You’re gonna be amazing, just relax, it’s so fun.”
Asked whether she’d ever done comedy before, Charli admitted rather sheepishly, “No, I haven’t,” she laughed. “I’m just kind of going with the flow. We’ll see what happens.”
