On Oct. 3, “Saturday Night Live” returned for its 46th season with a parody of the presidential debate. This was the first return to the studio for the long-running comedy show since the COVID-19 pandemic hit New York in March.
The premiere was hosted by Chris Rock and featured musical guest Megan Thee Stallion. The show was performed in front of a limited live audience because of COVID-19 restrictions.
The episode began with a cold open, which is a tradition for “Saturday Night Live.” The cold open provides a chance for the show to take a shot at the week’s topical news. According to The Atlantic, “It’s been proven to be the program’s biggest rating booster.” The cold open to season 46 was based on the first 2020 presidential debate that occurred on Sept. 29.
Jim Carrey debuted his portrayal of Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, while Alec Baldwin revisited his popular rendition of President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. Former SNL cast member Maya Rudolph also made a cameo as Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris.
“In the SNL skit they brought in Biden’s VP candidate Harris which didn’t happen in the actual debate, and she acted like a mom telling them both to cut it out and not talk about ‘who started it,’” said senior Ashley O’Sullivan.
Baldwin reenacted Trump’s frequent interruptions from the real debate while inserting several jokes about COVID-19. Carrey’s depiction of Biden included aviator sunglasses and a series of expressions as he tried to keep calm by breathing into a brown paper bag.
“The SNL skit was supposed to be a funny take on the debate, but really it just showed how unavailing the actual debate was,” said O’Sullivan. “The skit wasn’t far off from what actually happened during the debate, between the interruptions and the belittling side comments made from both candidates.”
Carrey performed a skit where he used a remote control to pause Baldwin, similar to the scene from his 2003 movie “Bruce Almighty.”
“America, look directly into my eyeballs,” Carrey said to the audience while trying to “pause” Trump (Baldwin) with a remote control. “You can trust me, because I believe in science and karma. Now just imagine science and karma could somehow team up and send us all a message about how dangerous this virus could be,” he said gesturing at Trump.
“Overall I think SNL would favor Biden. I believe this because we saw how Biden muted Trump and this was referred to as ‘good for everyone,’” said senior Carlos Ruiz, President of Pioneer Vote. “The remote control I also found was funny because it has been talked about (muting candidates mics to avoid interruptions). I think SNL makes it clear who people should consider voting for, or at least who they’re favoring at this time.”
This episode marked Megan Thee Stallion’s SNL debut, and she performed her songs “Savage” and “Don’t Stop” with Young Thug. The rapper also used her time on SNL to make a statement on social justice; the backdrop of the stage during “Savage” read “Protect Black Women,” and a recording of a Malcom X speech was inserted into the middle of the same song.
The episode also included highlights of a spoof of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” and a “Weekend Update” segment on Trump’s threats to ban the TikTok app in the U.S.
“I thought it wasn’t too bad. I haven’t loved SNL in recent years, but it was nice to see big faces like Alec Baldwin, Jim Carrey and Maya Rudolph again, and Chris Rock did a very solid job as usual,” said junior Ryan McHallam.
