Less than a week after the first Presidential debate, with a host fresh off a major summer blockbuster and a musical guest who just had a Twitter-trending haircut, Season 42 of "Saturday Night Live" finally premiered this past Saturday with great anticipation and immense ratings.
Of course, the cold open would be the debate. Why would it be anything else? One thing "Saturday Night Live" does a great job at is a political satire, and this episode scored a higher viewership since Tiny Fey debuted her Sarah Palin impersonation in 2008’s season premiere.
A teaser video was released before the airing of the premiere, showing Alec Baldwin as he morphs into Donald Trump with the swiftness of makeup and a wig. The same for Kate McKinnon-fresh off an Emmy win as she returns to impersonate Hillary Clinton.
Michael Che, posing as Lester Holt introduced the candidates, and this is where both McKinnon and Baldwin reeled the audience in for an impeccable comedic replay of the debate. Hobbling in with a cane and going in for a somersault Willy Wonka-style, McKinnon gave theperformance of a high-energy, stop-at-nothing-to-be-President Hillary Clinton. Baldwin, however, was a spot-on Trump. Oh, was he spot-on? The sniffling was referenced, as was Hillary’s cut-loose shoulder shimmy.
Margot Robbie rings in the season
The host of the show, Margot Robbie made her début with a fact-checking monolog between her and fellow cast mates. The sketches that followed utilized Robbie, even as she gave an excellent performance as Ivanka Trump in a politically charged Family Feud.
Kenan Thompson’s Steve Harvey hosted a round of the “Feud” between Team Clinton and Team Trump.
Surprises that erupted in that same sketch was Beck Bennett’s Vladimir Putin, newbies Mikey Day, Alex Moffat and Melissa Villaseñor as the Trump Brothers and Sarah Silverman, Darryl Hammond reprising his Bill Clinton role, Cecily Strong as Lin-Manuel Miranda and Larry David returning as Bernie Sanders.
Weekend Update shows strong promise
After The Weeknd’s debut performance of “Starboy,” Colin Jost and Michael Che had returned to deliver the news at the Weekend Update desk, ready to take aim at Clinton and Trump. After one full season, and special airings on MSNBC during the conventions, it is easy to see the bond that has formed between Jost and Che. The banter is increasing, as is thebouncing of jokes off each other shows that the chemistry is showing.
Jokes included the debate, but failed to touch upon Trump’s tax returns, which became a major news item afterthe debate, but it is understandable when it comes to a segment that is roughly 12 minutes and features a couple “correspondents,” in this case was a rant by Cecily Strong’s Undecided Voter and Thompson’s David Ortiz talking about retiring from baseball.
For the last sketch, Leslie Jones had a turn to poke fun at the hacking and bullying debacle that happened this summer. After addressingthe ordeal on stage at the Emmy’s, Jones took to the matter once again in a hilarious mock that led her to seek the help of a hacker named Mr. Robot. The robot, played by Pete Davidson is putto the task to search her laptop, still equipped with Windows 95. In the end, it becomes knownthat the hacker was Jones herself.
Next week, SNL is continuing riding that high with host Lin-Manuel Miranda and Twenty One Pilots as the musical guest.
