Katy Perry’s ‘SNL’ Performance Is Brought To You By The Letter “DD”

Idolator Staff | September 26, 2010 1:08 pm

Fresh from causing an uproar on Sesame Street, Katy Perry headed to the meaner (and much more cleavage-friendly) streets of New York to perform on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live. Watch two musical performances — and a skit poking fun at the whole Sesame Street affair (and Elmo’s crush) with Katy in a skin-tight Elmo top — after the jump.

Unfortunately, the candy-colored California girl didn’t fare quite so well in New York City either, delivering a pitchy, slightly awkward rendition of her now-ubiquitous ode to the Golden Coast. Did she have sand in her stilettos or what? The Snoop Doggy Dogg-less version of “California Gurls” was highly unlikely to melt anyone’s popsicle, and surely left the audience feeling secure about their choice of East Coast as home sweet home.Katy’s second number, “Teenage Dream,” kicked off with an ill-advised a capella opening, but got significantly better as it went on (perhaps not coincidentally, when the instruments got louder). The naughty schoolgirl attire Perry sports here makes Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time” look prudish — clearly, Russell Brand’s bride-to-be isn’t trying to win back the easily-disturbed Parents Television Council any time soon.

Of course, this is hardly the first time SNL has been host to an assault on our eardrums (most recently, with help from Ke$ha); most infamous/hilarious, Ashlee Simpson’s unbelievable I-can’t-sing-so-I’ll-dance-a-jig antics from way back in 2004). Some might assume such debacles are even built in as part of the comedy! Perhaps Perry can take comfort knowing her performance wasn’t nearly as laughable as SNL’s worst musical guest offerings.

Besides, Katy more than made up for her imperfect singing in this hilarious sketch with Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph, poking fun at PBS’s Victorian-era priggishness. SNL’s verdict on the censorship? “So dumb, America!”

It’s nice to know that Katy isn’t taking her exile from Sesame Street too seriously, and can get back to what she’s good at: inspiring teenage dreams, not preschool-age ones.