Zoë Kravitz Was Joined By, Er, Cat People During Her SNL Monologue

Zoë Kravitz’s role as the new Catwoman precedes her — at least it did during her Saturday Night Live monologue on March 12, where several Catwomen (sort of) joined her on stage.

In a white cropped polo shirt and black pants, the actor kicked off the episode by introducing her role as the iconic feline antihero in The Batman. “To prepare for the role I watched the movie Cats for a year,” she said. Just like Joaquin Phoenix did for his Joker role, she quipped. But before she could continue with spiel, a catsuit-clad Kate McKinnon crashed her spiel.

“I’m Catwoman from the ’90s. The one with the whip, you know, like cats have,” the SNL cast member told Kravitz, while dressed in the latex costume inspired by Michelle Pfeiffer’s in Batman Returns. McKinnon continued by saying Catwomen have origin stories and that hers was when she “fell out of the window onto a pile of cats.” Now, she dresses like “Sandy from a porno version of Grease.” When Kravitz politely responded by saying it’s always nice to have the support of fellow Catwomen, McKinnon said, “I need to fire up a cat signal.”

That signal, a cat icon against the New York skies, led to even more cast members joining the two on stage, including Ego Nwodim, who was also in a catsuit. “I was the first Black Catwoman,” Nwodim said. Recalling her Batman-verse history, Kravitz immediately recognized who Nwodim was channeling: Eartha Kitt from the 1960s TV version. Nwodim and McKinnon then swapped Catwoman horror stories, with McKinnon joking about how the noise her latex suit makes gives her away when sneaking up on bad guys.

“It feels really nice to get all this Catwoman energy here,” Kravitz said, just as another cat woman appeared. This time it was Aidy Bryant, dressed in a chunky knit sweater, a Garfield T-shirt, and cat ears, who walked on set with a live cat in a shopping cart. She’s a cat person, she explained, who just wants to meet Rosalía. She’s often imagined hosting “Saturday Night Cat,” too. Finally, Chris Redd, dressed as Katt Williams, also showed up as the final cat person. When Kravitz pointed out he wasn’t even a woman, he retorted, “I am a lover of women.”

With all the “cat people” on stage, McKinnon called upon her fellow feline friends, saying, “Now, let’s go fight some crime.” After all the interruptions, Kravitz then finally got to finish her monologue and introduce the episode.