It's been almost five months since Saturday Night Live aired its final "At Home" episode, and I imagine everyone involved with the show hoped that things would be significantly better by the time they returned for a new season of topical political comedy sketches. Instead, the pandemic is still with us, the city is seeing spikes positive coronavirus tests in multiple neighborhoods, and the president has been hospitalized with COVID-19. In the midst of all this, SNL forged on with their plans to return with live episodes from 30 Rock, kicking off season 46 this weekend at Studio 8H with host Chris Rock, musical guest Megan Thee Stallion and a live audience that was in part made up of first responders.
When SNL was forced to produce those three surreal "At Home" episodes last spring, they rose to the occasion and came up with sketches that highlighted the talents of each cast member and took advantage of the limitations of having them isolated from each other. There was an urgency to the material that spoke to the need people had for anything to laugh at in the midst of this historic crisis. That spark was sadly nowhere to be found in the disappointing premiere—though to be fair, SNL premieres are almost never highlights of a season.
SNL's political cold opens remain their most talked-about sketches, and with five episodes in a row planned leading up to the election (assuming no one in the cast or crew gets sick, which would necessitate a two week shutdown), they are bound to rack up tens of millions of views and a slew of headlines every week this fall. SNL's political comedy has been a staple of the show since its inception, with many of their best performers shaping the public's view of the politicians (for better and worse), from Chevy Chase's bumbling Gerald Ford to Will Ferrell's blinkered George W. Bush to Tina Fey's cheerfully idiotic Sarah Palin. But these sketches have become an albatross around the neck of the show during the Trump administration, a miserable exercise in toothless political satire with a revolving door of celebrity guest stars doing mediocre impressions.
Along those lines, First Debate Cold Open started off as a dire recreation of the agonizing first Trump/Biden debate. The writers made the decision to have Jim Carrey play Biden as angry and befuddled, but Carrey's innately energetic, elastic energy didn't fit Biden whatsoever (Woody Harrelson was much better last season). Maya Rudolph is unbelievably charismatic and hilarious, but awkwardly shoving Kamala Harris into the sketch as a girlboss super-mommy just sucked. And I remain convinced that Lorne Michaels must have something really bad on Alec Baldwin to get him to keep playing Trump, despite the fact he seems to loathe doing it. However, the end of the sketch, with Biden pausing Trump and talking directly to the audience about a future in which we don't have to hear Trump’s voice "for a single goddamned second” was a sign that if SNL can break out of the confines of straight parody, they can probably make much more interesting comedy.
Chris Rock seemed like a slam dunk choice for first host, but this wasn't one of his most memorable appearances. Besides some awkward transitions between subjects, the Monologue was pretty solid, and Rock touched on Trump contracting COVID-19 ("My heart goes out to COVID"), the pandemic, and the importance of political term limits ("Dukes and Dutchess making the decision for poor people").
There were no truly exceptional sketches, but the two best ones felt the most like throwbacks to the "At Home" episodes: The Drew Barrymore Show was another incredible showcase for impressionist extraordinaire Chloe Fineman, and Stunt Performers was another enjoyable Kate McKinnon/Aidy Bryant team-up about COVID-era stunt performers.
Also pretty solid: we got a live Kyle Mooney sketch that wasn't cut for time! Future Ghost was a reminder that marrying Kenan Thompson and playing Tony Hawk games will always be awesome.
As for the rest: Superspreader Event had a lot of very silly names and dirty puns, and made me laugh a few times; Bottom Of Your Face was a pretty run of the mill Chris Redd rap parody, featuring Megan Thee Stallion; and NBA Bubble was the worst sketch of the night, just a really one-dimensional, misogynistic skit.
The one person who really did blow me away was Megan Thee Stallion, who performed new single "Don't Stop" (with Young Thug) and "Savage," which included some incredibly imagery and staging, including background messages that called out Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron regarding Breonna Taylor's murder.
On Weekend Update, Bowen Yang brought back his breakout character Chen Biao to talk about Trump, TikTok and the disappointment of Mulan; and Aidy Bryant was wonderful as seventh-grade travel expert Carrie Krum (the less said about the RBG cameo at the end, the better).
On the plus side, things can hoepfully only get better from here now that everyone's shaken the cobwebs off. Comedian Bill Burr will make his hosting debut next weekend with musical guest Morgan Wallen... assuming Wallen, uh, makes it there.
