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Videos: SNL Overdoses On Impeachment Satire In Season Premiere With Woody Harrelson
By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 30, 2019
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NBC
By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 30, 2019
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Our perception of time is constantly shifting as we get older, which is maybe why it feels like it was only last week that Paul Rudd was hosting the season finale of season 44 of Saturday Night Live. Or maybe it's because SNL has remained in the news during the summer hiatus because Leslie Jones left the show, Eddie Murphy was announced as a host, and a hopelessly mediocre comedian was hired and then swiftly fired. And here we all find ourselves again on a Monday morning, gazing into the abyss that is the 45th season of the long-running sketch show.
Woody Harrelson hosted the show for the fourth time (his last turn at host was in 2014), with musical guest Billie Eilish. There were lots of political parodies, a smattering of big name guest stars, and a surprising amount of breaking on the part of the cast (Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon no less!). Oh, and Ray Donovan! Ray Donovan was here, very cool. Check out some highlights and lowlights below, then go complain in the contents that you wasted precious minutes of your life watching SNL in the year 2019. Just remember: nobody is forcing you!
Let's start with what worked, namely DNC Town Hall. Political parodies are SNL's bread and butter in the Trump era, for better or (mostly for) worse. However, like with some of the debate sketches from 2016, this was one of those things where the casting was gangbusters, and the writing rose to the level of the superlative performers. After some brief-but-fun cameos from the large Democratic field (including new castmember and impressionist wizard Chloe Fineman as Marianne Williamson), the sketch focused on the four leading candidates, all of whom were fantastic. McKinnon was excellent as ever as Elizabeth Warren, Larry David returned as Bernie Sanders, Harrelson was Joe Biden decked out in dental veneers, and Maya Rudolph stole the show as Kamala Harris. Is it a problem that three out of those four people are all guest stars and not castmembers? Who cares—it worked, and hopefully there'll be plenty of opportunities for some of them to return in the future.
There was more politics for Inside The Beltway, in which a bunch of pundits discussed the Trump impeachment inquiry. But what made this sketch stand out was when a wardrobe person came on set too early and Aidy Bryant could not stop laughing (nor could Cecily Strong and Harrelson). Only Kenan held strong!
The impeachment inquiry was also the subject of the Impeachment Cold Open, which featured Alec Baldwin's Trump playing a game of telephone with his favorite cronies. On the one hand, it was a sensible way to start off the season, since half the main cast is featured. On the other hand, like most of the cold opens in recent years, it wasn't very funny (it was bad). But hey, at least Liev Schreiber was there for the kids.
One of the best sketches of the night was the 10-to-1 Apple Picking Ad. It included Harrelson's best line reading of the night ("We found some animals...and now they’re in prison"), and Bryant and McKinnon losing it again.
There were a couple totally fine sketches: your mileage may vary on Kyle Mooney, but I love the specificity of his incredibly particular brand of '90s parodies like Dad (and I'm just glad it made the show and wasn't cut for time as usual). Heidi Gardner is one of my favorite newer castmembers on the show, and has become a reliable Weekend Update presence; she got a decent showcase sketch with Locker Room that had more to do with penises than inspirational speeches. And Downton Abbey Trailer was right about one thing: that show/movie is mostly about cleaning.
Check out everything else below, including Harrelson's muddled Monologue (was he commenting on the Shane Gillis mess, or just "cancel culture" in general?); a World’s Biggest Cheeto malfunction in Roadside Museum; and a bizarrely short Weekend Update, which only featured one guest in Thompson's lovable David Ortiz.
Whatever you think of her goth pop/ASMR-influenced music, Eilish's flawless rotating performance of "Bad Guy" was really fucking cool. "I Love You" was not as cool.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the writer and star behind the brilliant Fleabag, will make her hosting debut next week with musical guest Taylor Swift.
Tagged
maya rudolph
comedy
saturday night live
snl
larry david
woody Harrelson
television
tv
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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