"There was talk, at one point, of calling Aidy Bryant's show 'fat bitch'... the studio and network were like, 'Uh, no'...."

"But being fat is part of what the series is about. 'Shrill' is based on Lindy West’s memoir, sparked by her viral 2011 column, 'Hello, I Am Fat'... West’s story resonated with Bryant.... 'It is a descriptor and, like, I am fat,' says Bryant, 33. 'To me, it’s like taking the power out of it. It doesn’t have to be so loaded. It’s just true, and sitting with that, it makes it easier for me. It just feels a little less frightening.'... Will 'Shrill' leave a lasting impact on how fat people are treated in comedy? [Producer Lorne] Michaels was reminded of several popular, old SNL bits, including John Belushi gnawing on a chicken breast while playing Elizabeth Taylor and Chris Farley’s shirtless Chippendales dance. The late Farley’s sad description of his style was often 'fatty falls down.' 'How things change is really who’s doing the talking,' Michaels says. 'If it’s someone they trust as much as they trust Aidy, I think they’re much more willing to take what she says seriously. And that’s a good use of a comedy platform.'"

From a WaPo article about Bryant's TV show "Shrill." 

As I've said for many years, "fat" should not be treated as a bad word. We call people "skinny" — often as a compliment — and "fat" is the corresponding word on the other side of "normal." I know, you can attack "normal," but I'm thinking of those BMI charts that show a range called "normal," meaning that's what you ought to shoot for if you want your best health. 

Anyway... there's a long history to the comedy of fatness. There's good reason to have characters who just  happen to be fat and don't do much if anything comical with their bodies. But the body is an instrument that can be deployed comically, and there are special things that can be done with a fat body. Here's Fatty Arbuckle: 

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"This is 'The View.' We are 5 best friends with nothing in common."

Says "Whoopi Goldberg"/Leslie Jones in an "SNL" spoof of "The View." The impersonations are pretty good, especially Jones and Kate McKinnon as Joy Behar. They're talking about the border crisis:



I also enjoyed Aidy Bryant as Meghan McCain: “Can I just say something? As the princess of Arizona, there is a crisis at the border, and the border is right up in my Arizona, which was founded on sunburned women selling turquoise jewelry, not rando Mexicans. And that’s not racist, because my makeup artist is gay."

Here's the actual "View" incident that "SNL" is spoofing (I'd skip you to 2:30 to get to the good part but then you'd miss how long McCain talked before Behar got her chance):



Side note: Ana Navarro isn't in the real view clip, but she's in the "SNL" skit, where her annoyingness is well depicted.

The "SNL" cold open on the Mueller report is mostly tedious, but they did a fantastic job...

... making Robert De Niro look like Robert Mueller:



De Niro only needed to read from the "report," but he didn't do that with any comic style or even basic articulation competence. He flubbed many lines and never looked at the paper he was supposed to be reading. He was reading the teleprompter, so that's where his eyes were locked.

Meanwhile, Aidy Bryant does William Barr, but Barr isn't a person we know well enough to know whether this is a funny impersonation. The comic idea — that Barr re-interprets Mueller to Trump's advantage — is quickly understood and so obvious that the repetitions are boring.

But Alec Baldwin is there, and his Trump is delightful, so high on himself, so devilish.