Kate McKinnon Does The Definitive Impression Of Gal Gadot

Kate McKinnon and Jimmy Fallon connect over the world’s sweetheart: Gal Gadot Image by Getty Images

By Jenny Singer December 6, 2017

To paraphrase a quote from last week’s Torah portion, “To see Kate McKinnon do an impression of Gal Gadot is to see the face of God.

McKinnon told Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday she and fellow Saturday Night Live cast member Aidy Bryant chatted with Gal Gadot frequently during their week together preparing for the “Wonder Woman” star to host the show in October. “We were just like, oh, now we know we are Midwestern toads compared to this, like, Mediterranean goddess,” McKinnon said. “Everything she says is like a prophecy,” she added, finally identifying the spookily appealing quality of Gadot’s that we have all felt but never been able to label.

What followed was a chillingly accurate impression of Gal Gadot: the goddess, the woman, the Israeli army beauty queen legend:

McKinnon says at a dinner with the cast of Saturday Night Live Gadot led the actors and writers in a Jewish summer camp-style bonding game, demanding that every person reveal a secret they had never told anyone before. Even the show’s creator Lorne Michaels participated. “We left transfixed,” McKinnon said. “The power of Gal Gadot!” Fallon agreed.

Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at Singer@forward.com or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

Jenny Singer is a freelance writer with pieces in Vox, the Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Teen Vogue, and more. She was previously a staff writer at Glamour and the Forward, and she’s currently getting an MFA in nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO