Colman Domingo sets the perfect vibe for ‘SNL’

If I ever host SNL, I hope I have the confidence of Colman Domingo. The Euphoria star breezed through his SNL debut, making easy work of a task that has tripped up several hosts this season.

Colman had the SNL writing staff on his side this week, getting to work with oddball sketches like “Grandpa’s Wake” and “What If I Told You.” There have been a few moments during Season 51 when the writing on the show didn’t meet the moment, but SNL wasn’t short on, um, creative ideas for Colman’s episode.

You know what the show didn’t turn to, though? Marcello Hernandez’s Domingo. If you had asked me two weeks ago if I thought we’d see a Colman Domingo/Domingo pairing, I would’ve said it was absolutely happening. But then SNL burned off a Domingo appearance for Jack Black’s cold open last week.

It was a shame that the episode’s goodnights were cut off almost immediately to send the feed back to local affiliates. Domingo gave a touching tribute to the show as he closed out his hosting debut.

It’s always easy to read too much into the goodnights (I once did a frame-by-frame analysis of Jason Sudeikis lurking in the background as rumors swirled that he was done with the show), but the vibe between Domingo, musical guest Annita and SNL’s cast really seemed to be genuine.

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COLD OPEN

Trump Making Calls Cold Open

SNL wasted little time revealing that, yes, James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump would be the focal point of this week’s cold open. We got a break last episode, but last night’s episode kicked off with not only Trump but the full roster of White House characters. Ashley Padilla as Karoline Leavitt. Chloe Fineman as Melania Trump. Colin Jost as Pete Hegseth. Even Kenan Thompson as Tiger Woods.

• “You’re calling me? That’s not a good sign”: I’m not surprised that SNL addressed Melania’s Jeffrey Epstein press conference. I’m just surprised that they chose this approach after SNL UK already nailed the story.

• I’ve done very little coverage of SNL UK between The Cold Open and Popculturology, but I had to share SNL UK’s cold open from last night. It’s an original idea! It plays off the news! It doesn’t just have a Trump impressionist running through the week’s headlines!
• “All three of those were replaced by Ashley, it’s an interesting detail”: Johnson’s Trump broke the fourth wall briefly to note that Padilla is currently the show’s Leavitt, Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi.
• “Seven dollars a gallon! Hegseth out!” Jost loves this character. I’m pretty sure Hegseth does too ...

THE MONOLOGUE

Wow, this was a confident monologue. Domingo’s goal was to “get a vibe going,” and he nailed it. The eyebrow raises. The glances at camera. Domingo kicked off this episode in full control.