Saturday Night Live returns for its 41st season this Saturday and after several straight summers of cast shakeups, things were relatively quiet after the 40th season ended in May. Every cast member from last season will return for season 41 and only one new cast member, stand-up comedian Jon Rudnitsky, will join them.
The lack of turnover should be seen as a vote of confidence from Lorne Michaels that this cast is moving the show in the right direction after a dismal season 39 brought back the “Saturday Night Dead” chants from critics and fans. Before the season premiere, here are a few things to look forward to this season:
More Kyle Mooney
Last week, it was announced that Kyle Mooney was moving up from featured player to repertory status. The move should mean we will see a lot more of Mooney this season after he broke out last season with his quirky “man on the street” sketches, and should make him the new resident oddball at SNL.
Hopefully, Mooney’s promotion does not mean we will see less of his Good Neighbor sketches with Beck Bennett, who was not promoted. But the firing of Good Neighbor partner Nick Rutherford, who was hired as a writer for season 40, might be a sign that Mooney will need to move on from brotastic material like “Inside SoCal” and “Reality House.”
The 2016 Presidential Debates and Primaries
If you have watched either of the Republican debates, you know that the 2016 election is going to be a windfall for SNL. With candidates like Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Ted Cruz, the material is almost writing itself and should make for some highly entertaining sketches over the course of the next eight months.
It has also been announced within the past few weeks that Taran Killam would be portraying Trump this season after years of former cast member and current SNL announcer Darrell Hammond playing him on the show. Earlier this week, Kenan Thompson appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers, and gave us a preview of his Ben Carson impression.
Most of the candidates have been portrayed in the past couple of seasons by current cast members with the biggest exception being Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Sanders has been portrayed by Fred Armisen in the past, and since he still works occasionally in the building, maybe he’ll make some return visits this season.
The Continued Emergence of Weekend Update
Last year at this time, I wrote that I didn’t want SNL to “waste an opportunity” to make Weekend Update socially relevant when it hired Michael Che and placed him next to Colin Jost behind the Update desk. After Che and Jost stumbled mightily during the first few episodes, I started to feel that SNL had made a terrible decision in not bringing back Cecily Strong, but then Che and Jost started to gel as co-anchors and finished the season as two of the more reliable cast members on the show.
Che and Jost still have their critics but if they continue to build on the success they had during the final half of last season, they will continue silencing critics, and make Weekend Update the must-see segment it really hasn’t been since Amy Poehler left in December of 2008. (Apologies to the Seth Meyers fans out there.)
Two Other Stray Observations
— SNL posted quite a few unaired sketches online during last season and over the summer, which seems to indicate that SNL (or maybe NBC) has finally realized the importance of reaching an online audience as ratings continue to dip for the telecast.
— Jon Rudnitsky seems to have a difficult task in front of him. Unlike past stand-up comedian/cast members like Brooks Wheelan and Pete Davidson, both of whom admitted they had difficulties adjusting to SNL, Rudnitsky does have some experience with the Groundlings, and his House of Cards and True Detective parodies gathered some attention online. The problem Rudnitsky will face is that he another white guy on a show full of white guys. How will he emerge from the pack? Maybe he has a killer Bernie Sanders impression?
Saturday Night Live’s season premiere airs this Saturday, Oct. 3, with host and musical guest Miley Cyrus.
