Last Friday, Gawker posted an article about Saturday Night Live fans on Instagram upset with the show having Miley Cyrus as host and musical guest. For long-time fans of the show, this was no surprise since people have been posting comments like, “This is why I don’t watch SNL anymore,” for years. Hell, people probably called the NBC switchboard upset with Elliott Gould hosting in the 1970’s.
What is surprising about these comments is that Cyrus has actually been a pretty good host during her first two appearances. She’s always seems ready for anything and blends in nicely with the cast. Which is pretty much the perfect combination for an SNL host.
Unfortunately, that combination didn’t seem to work this week as SNL returned from the summer with a bland episode that had a few laughs, but nothing really to talk about outside of one sketch with a certain presidential candidate.
Cold Open: Donald and Melania Trump
Before the season began, it was reported that Taran Killam would be taking over the reins of Donald Trump from Darrell Hammond, and SNL didn’t waste any time letting viewers see and hear this new Trump in action.
It will take some time for fans to forget Hammond’s long run as “The Donald,” and with Cecily Strong’s Melania getting the better jokes this time around, we may have to wait for a debate sketch to see Killam’s true potential as Trump.
Best Sketch: Hillary Clinton Bar Talk
SNL has basically become a part of the American presidential election cycle, which is why it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that Hillary Clinton stopped by the season premiere. What is kind of surprising is that the Democratic front-runner didn’t play herself (she was a bartender named Val), and even let SNL make fun of her tardiness in backing gay marriage and coming out against the Keystone pipeline.
Kate McKinnon and Clinton seemed to have a lot of fun with this sketch, and at times it wasn’t entirely clear if they were laughing because it was scripted, or just because they were having fun. Hillary even stuck around to introduce the first Miley Cyrus musical performance, where she was dressed up in an interesting Lady Godiva-esque outfit, and has to go down as one of the weirder transitions in SNL history.
Second Best Sketch: Abilify for Candidates
This season will be very heavy on political content and most likely, so will these recaps. The commercial parody of the night took a swing at presidential candidates (Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, and someone named Jim Gilmore) who have no shot at actually becoming the next President of the United States.
Weekend Update Moment: Pete Davidson
Pete Davidson was highlighted a few times last season for his Weekend Update appearances, and he beat out Kyle Mooney’s hip Pope Francis and relationship expert Leslie Jones this week. Davidson compared Donald Trump to Sanjaya from American Idol while also pointing out that his grandpa can’t know that Davidson is friends with Che, but that grandpa loves Jost.
Jost and co-anchor Michael Che started the season strong and were the highlight of the night, mixing in political and social humor while also sneaking in some racial humor due to Jost’s wholesome whiteness with jokes like this one:
Other Notes:
Jon Rudnitsky made his official debut on SNL as Turtle from Entourage in Cyrus’ monologue. He later appeared in his first sketch, “50’s Dance,” which had him getting his face covered in frosting then licked by Cyrus. Welcome to SNL, Jon!
Cyrus’ Dead Petz, who appeared on-stage with her performing “Karen Don’t Be Sad,” were The Flaming Lips. Cyrus and the band recently announced an upcoming tour.
While it was announced before the premiere that Kyle Mooney was moving from featured player to repertory status, it appears that Beck Bennett, Colin Jost, and Sasheer Zamata were also promoted based on the opening credits.
Saturday Night Live returns on Oct. 10 with host Amy Schumer and musical guest The Weeknd.
