Saturday Night Live goes heavy on impeachment in solid season premiere
By Matt Moore
Saturday Night Live couldn’t ignore the elephant in the room, using multiple sketches to cover President Donald Trump’s possible impeachment.
Saturday Night Live‘s 45th season picked up right where the last one left off: covering everything Trump. It was hard to blame the show however, as the season premiere perfectly aligned with one of the worst week’s for President Donald Trump’s presidency.
Saturday Night Live mocking President Trump doesn’t surprise anyone. SNL, like the rest of late night, have not been shy about makes jokes and commentary about everything going on in the White House.
But as Last Night On looked at in our season 45 preview, there were indications that more balance may be coming to SNL this year. The field of Democratic candidates offer plenty of material. And before it completely backfired, the hiring of cast member Shane Gillis was reportedly an attempt to appeal to a conservative audience.
To help kick off season 45 with a bang, Saturday Night Live had to go with what works. And for the past three years, making fun of President Trump has worked. Alec Baldwin may be tired of the impression but fans still watch and share Trump sketches until they are the most popular SNL clips online.
So when the week leading up to the premiere featured an announced impeachment inquiry, a whistleblower scandal, and Twitter meltdowns, it was clear that Saturday Night Live was gearing up to take its shot. As expected, that first shot came during the cold open.
Not too many people would have guessed that Rudy Giuliani would still be getting satirized on Saturday Night Live in 2019. But as Trump’s personal lawyer, Giuliani has shown he has no problem going on any television network and making things worse for his client in the wake of the impeachment inquiry and Ukraine scandal.
The cold open also acted as something of a season recap. It re-introduced the audience to fan favorite characters like Kate McKinnon’s Giuliani, the Trump brothers played by Mikey Day and Alex Moffat, and Cecily Strong’s version of Judge Jeanine. We also saw rookie cast member Bowen Yang as Kim Jong Un for a second time.
The impeachment inquiry was used to set up the “DNC Town Hall” sketch. This was SNL’s first chance to take a shot at the Democrats running for the White House in 2020. The impeachment news helped frame what would have otherwise been an outdated debate sketch.
The sketch answered some of the “who’s who?” questions fans had going into the season. Moffat looks to be your Beto O’Rourke, newcomer Chloe Fineman is Marianne Williamson, and Colin Jost will be Pete Buttigieg.
Fans knew that Kate McKinnon already had Elizabeth Warren down pat and only Larry David could go on as Bernie Sanders. But rather than call in Jason Sudeikis to reprise his role as Joe Biden, the honor was given to host Woody Harrelson. Biden was the only candidate that Harrelson could realistically play so the duties may revert to Sudeikis in future episodes pending the actor’s availability.
The big surprise cameo was Maya Rudolph as Senator Kamala Harris. The casting was well received among SNL fans online and even got a reaction from Harris herself.
And while Trump’s impeachment was the framework of the sketch, it was really about making fun of Sanders, Warren, Biden, and Harris. This sketch should give us some insight on the “ins” the writers will use in how they portray each candidate.
The final sketch about impeachment was the least optimistic for anyone hoping to see President Trump out of office. As a panel member on a cable news roundtable, Kenan Thompson warned everyone that nothing will come of the Ukraine scandal.
The sketch showed that no matter how many controversies surround President Trump, none have been big enough to take him down. All the flashbacks the “Inside the Beltway” panel took were also flashbacks for Saturday Night Live. They were the moments and scandals during Trump’s time in office that the show satirized and seemed convinced would be his undoing.
Whether or not the Ukraine scandal will be enough for impeachment remains to be seen. But this sketch also showed us that SNL may have come into the new season with a little rust. Veteran Aidy Bryant couldn’t hold it together as the quick change wardrobe gag got a little sloppy by the end.
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Luckily for Aidy Bryant and the rest of the Saturday Night Live team, the season is just starting so there is plenty of time to get things right. President Donald Trump’s latest controversy is also just getting started so don’t think we’ve heard the last from SNL on impeachment.