A sketch called “The Dionne Warwick Show” on the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live saw newly appointed cast member Ego Nwodim (Saturday Night Live, Brockmire) play the acclaimed singer and rising Twitter sensation Dionne Warwick, sparking praise from the subject of the sketch herself. Entertainment Tonight called the sketch “one of the highlights” of Saturday’s episode as it also saw grab-bag of impressions from the SNL cast and first-time host Timothee Chalamet (Little Women, Call Me By Your Name), who delivered an impression of musician Harry Styles.
According to her Twitter, Nwodim penned the sketch, alongside SNL writers Anna Drezen (Saturday Night Live, Miracle Workers) and Alison Gate (Saturday Night Live), as tribute to Warwick on the evening of her 80th birthday. Nwodim called playing Warwick “the role of my dreams” and thanked the singer and her niece on Twitter.
Warwick’s initial response about Nwodim’s performance on Twitter was simply to say “that young lady’s impression of me was very good.” However, after finding Nwodim on Twitter, the singer shouted her out specifically in separate tweet in which she called the comedian a “star”.
Nwodim said she cried after seeing Warwick’s follow-up tweet about her Saturday Night Live impression, via Twitter. The comedian elaborated in post on Instagram, where she said “extremely touched by Ms. Dionne’s kindness and generosity of spirit” and added “so glad I did her proud.”
Entertainment Tonight tracked Warwick’s journey to becoming the reigning “Queen of Twitter” during quarantine and how her niece, Brittani Warwick, has aided in those endeavors. Saturday Night Live featured player, Punkie Johnson (Saturday Night Live, Space Force), embodied Warwick’s niece in the sketch and the singer made note of her performance on Twitter as well. Warwick simply referred to Johnson as “the other young lady”, but noted that she “did wonderful job” portraying her niece, via Twitter.
Nwodim and Johnson are not the first Saturday Night Live performers that Warwick has shouted out on Twitter. Just prior to Saturday’s episode airing, the singer referenced Kenan Thompson’s (Saturday Night Live, Kenan & Kel) seventeen-season-and-counting run on the show by joking that he “has been on SNL for as long as I’ve been alive” (Twitter).
Variety notes that Nwodim is not the first SNL cast member to embody Warwick, as alumnus Maya Rudolph (Bridesmaids, Big Mouth) had a reoccurring role as the singer on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. It’s undetermined whether Nwodim’s impression will become reoccurring on SNL, as the sketch was a hit among fans and the singer herself.
People points out, “The Dionne Warwick Show” sketch revolved around ongoing aspects of Warwick’s presence online, including highlights of specific tweets and her recent disagreements with Wendy Williams. It’s possible that, as Warwick continues to entertain followers on Twitter, Nwodim could use some of the musician’s tweets for fodder in a future iteration of “The Dionne Warwick Show”. Other successful and reoccurring celebrity-impersonation-based talk show sketches in the history of Saturday Night Live include “The Miley Cyrus Show” or “The Barry Gibb Talk Show”.
Outside of the impressions featured in “The Dionne Warwick Show” sketch, Saturday evening also saw Melissa Villasenor (Saturday Night Live, Hubie Halloween) impersonating a beloved musician on Weekend Update. Villasenor’s impression of country star Dolly Parton likewise attracted Twitter praise from the singer. Parton, like Warwick, gave Villasenor shout-out on Twitter, saying she was “flattered” by the tribute.