It is not news that President Donald Trump watches SNL; the White House was reportedly “rattled” by the casting of Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer in 2017; one source told Politico, “Trump doesn’t like his people to look weak.” Kavanaugh’s confirmation now hangs in the balance, as the FBI investigates allegations of sexual misconduct against him, which he has vigorously denied. At such a crucial moment, even the public perception of the judge filtered through a show as silly as SNL might matter—though that perhaps reflects more on the White House than it does on Lorne Michaels and company.

The Kavanaugh put forward by SNL was, for one, aggressive. “I’m gonna start at an 11. I’m gonna take it to about a 15 real quick,” he yelled at the start of the sketch before tearing into an alleged Democratic conspiracy: “I’m here tonight because of a sham, a political con job orchestrated by the Clintons, and George Soros, and Kathy Griffin, and Mr. Ronan Sinatra.” The judge fixated on his glory days as a teenager. Asked whether he ever drank too many beers, he shot back, “You mean was I cool? Yeah.” And though the sketch largely avoided details about the sexual-assault claim the hearings were meant to address, one line was delivered with particular intent to sting: “I’m not backing down, you sons of bitches. I don’t know the meaning of the word stop.”

In focusing on the most meme-worthy, stunning moments of Kavanaugh’s testimony (his professed love of beer, his haughty refrain of “I got into Yale”), Damon turned the judge into a fuming teen, loud but unthreatening, breaking into tears at every mention of his high-school buddies or his beloved “beautiful, creepy calendars.” Only when Kavanaugh proclaimed that he was “the proudest, drunkest virgin you’ve ever seen” did the sketch come close to acknowledging what he was actually accused of, and how strange some of his defenses were.

Megan Garber on the pernicious double standards around Brett Kavanaugh’s drinking

It’s an approach that felt logical, since sexual assault isn’t something that can be easily boiled down to pithy punch lines. But by homing in on Kavanaugh as a frat-boy caricature, the sketch necessarily blunted the broader power and significance of Thursday’s testimony, and obscured the stark contrast the judge struck with Ford’s much more measured performance. Damon’s casting was solid—the actor was playing on his preppy charm, and portrayed the pugnaciousness well enough—but it belied the show’s deeper problems with trusting its own cast to take on the big roles.

Damon is now part of an all-star ensemble that includes Alec Baldwin as Trump, Robert De Niro as Robert Mueller, Ben Stiller as Michael Cohen, and many more. By casting A-list actors in these roles, Michaels gives the impression that the people they’re playing will only be in the news for so long, and that the Trump administration may depart SNL’s stage sooner rather than later. But the circus goes on and on, and even Saturday Night Live is finding it harder to get at the joke.

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