Kate McKinnon Debuts Wondrous Gal Gadot Impression: “Everything She Said Was Magic”

Listen, impressions are a dime a dozen. We get it. People talk like other people all the time, and usually they don’t do it well. Like, everyone had a Trump, a Shatner, a Walken. That’s boring.

What makes impressions exciting, what makes them worth your time, is when someone takes someone that you never thought could be impersonated and just straight up nails it, nails every idiosyncrasy and turn of phrase. That’s the case with this Kate McKinnon impression of Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot.

Think about it: how would you do a Gal Gadot impression? Where would you even begin? She’s relatively new to the spotlight and her voice doesn’t have any over-the-top characteristics that are easy to latch onto for an impression. This is why McKinnon is on Saturday Night Live, because she found something to latch onto and turned it into a full-blown character.

McKinnon met Gadot during her week hosting the sketch show, which she told Jimmy Fallon during a Tonight Show appearance. “She really made an impact down at SNL,” said McKinnon. “I was with Aidy Bryant and we just had a bunch of stuff to do with her that week so we talked to her a lot and we were just like, ‘Oh okay, now we know that we are Midwestern toads compared to this Mediterranean goddess.'”

She then effortlessly slips into character, comparing Gadot’s hobbies (paddle boarding, visiting the Maldives) to her own (watching Dateline). “Everything she said was magic,” said McKinnon, who then impersonated Gadot giving mortgage advice.

Even the Tuesday night host dinner, usually a chill, casual affair, was elevated by Gadot. McKinnon said that Gadot started off the dinner saying, “I want everyone to go around the table and say something they’ve never told anyone.”

Will this impression ever make it onto SNL? Time will tell, although “Midwestern Toad Women” sounds like an A+ sketch idea for the next time Gadot hosts.

Where to stream The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon