Scarlett Johansson on 'SNL': 3 Sketches You Have to See

It's often hard to figure out which three Saturday Night Live sketches to include here each week. Last week, coming up with three I felt strongly enough about to even share proved a challenge. This week, the show's comedic cup runneth so over that I was spoiled for choice. I could come up with an alternative list of three sketches that don't appear below that I'd feel perfectly fine defending, and in most weeks would absolutely appear below.

The animal photographer and Olive Garden segments were both extremely funny and featured sharp writing. The blobfish sketch marked a welcome return and had an inexplicable but welcome runner featuring the theme song to The Simpsons. A newly sober and supremely confident Pete Davidson returned with gusto to the "Weekend Update" set immediately after Alex Moffat unveiled a really strong Al Franken impression. The "mansplaining" sketch served as spiritual sequel to last week's highlight sketch "Girl At A Bar." All of these were strong segments in a show that top to bottom might have been the best all season.

But the three below? These three focused on the here and now, and while timeless sketches have their place in SNL, they take a secondary seat given the drama that is the real world. With five-time host Scarlett Johansson once again proving her aptitude at sketch comedy, these were the show as its most vital, most incisive, and angriest.

Alien Attack Cold Open

Can you hear the applause at Alec Baldwin's first appearance? That's the energy missing from last week's installment, instantly injected into this one. For better or worse, SNL has tied itself to Baldwin as portraying President Trump, and it's such a successful performance that any episode without him feels lacking at this point. He's a release valve for the crowd, allowing respite after a week of tweets, executive orders, and tenuous relationship with reality.Putting this sketch a year into the future in the midst of an alien invasion not only breaks this cold open out of its usual setting, it also allowed for some slick (if sometimes obvious) parallels between today's reality and tomorrow's fantasy. From fears that Trump has business ties to the invading planet, to his joy that the destruction of California means he might have won the popular vote, to thinking the soldiers played by Leslie Jones and Sasheer Zamata are both aliens hiding in plain sight, the gags flow fast and freely. (Zamata's, "Oh, OK, no," might have been her best line reading since joining the show.)