By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Part of what makes Caitlin Clark so special and appealing is how easy she makes everything look.

From making logos 3s to recording 40-point triple doubles to appearing on Saturday Night Live, Iowa’s homegrown legend seems to handle all of it with ease, and with a certain flair that is unique to her.

Clark appeared on SNL’s “Weekend Update” segment on Saturday, alongside cast member Michael Che, and to say she handled it well would be an understatement.

Whatever nerves the former Iowa All-America guard must have felt weren’t noticeable as Clark played her part almost perfectly.

She appeared to a rousing ovation from the live audience just moments after Che had joked that Iowa would be retiring her number for an apron.

Clark fought back saying, “You make a lot of jokes about women’s sports, don’t you, Michael?” Che responded that he wouldn’t classify them as “a lot” but that they’re not “irregular.”

Weekend Update co-host Colin Jost then jumped in to support Clark by showing short clips of various “Weekend Update” clips in which Che knocks women’s sports, joking in one segment that the bars showing women’s sports are “known collectively as the empty ones.” In another, he jokes that the WNBA is a made-up, AI-generated breakdown.

“Wow, Colin with the receipts. Thanks, man,” Clark said.

Jost added, “Unlike Che, I support women.”

Saturday Night Live is filmed in New York City and Clark is currently in the Big Apple in preparation for Monday’s WNBA draft in which she is consider a lock to be the first player selected overall by the Indiana Fever.

Proof of Clark’s popularity and influence is that the Indiana Fever will have 32 of its 36 games televised next season after having just one game televised last season.

Clark is a sports phenomenon, and that’s why SNL invited her to make a guest appearance.

The same stage where comedy legends such as John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, Gilda Radner, Phil Hartman, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley and Eddie Murphy first became celebrities would for a few precious minutes become Clark’s stage, much to the delight of the audience, and to the SNL cast.

She wasn’t alone, though, and that’s another reason Clark’s appearance on SNL was so impressive

Clark was accompanied by three of her Hawkeye teammates – Gabbie Marshall, Kate Martin and Jada Gmyfi – and they all appeared on the set with her, and with the SNL cast, at the conclusion of the show.

After she finished roasting Che, Clark made a point in her skit to thank the players before her that helped to grow the sport of women’s basketball, names such as Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper, Dawn Staley, Sheryl Swoopes and Maya Moore.

Her segment was funny, but it also sent a strong message that women’s basketball is evolving and going places where it hasn’t gone before.

The players that Clark cheered for an idolized as a kid while growing up in West Des Moines certainly deserve credit for helping women’s basketball to grow.

But Clark appears on the verge of taking the sport to a whole new level.

And while she can’t do it by herself, no other women’s player has ever come close to matching Clark’s immense popularity and influence.

You can argue all you want about who is the greatest women’s college player of all time, even though there is no right or wrong answer.

But as far as who is the most popular?

There is no argument.

Caitlin Clark is in a class by herself as we saw with her performance on SNL.