Election Cast Revealed, Sketches Cut for Time

Jean’s style is very lowkey, sardonic, and a little snarky. There were definitely laughs to be had, but someone who performs a little broader, a little bigger might have been a better fit for the premiere. The episode left us feeling more happy about the return of SNL in general, than what we got here.

Maybe someone like an Andy Samberg would have been a more appropriate choice, though we did get to see him. The alum is part of this season’s election cycle players, joining Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris as her husband Doug Emhoff. They’re joined by fellow alum Dana Carvey, with a hilariously on-point Joe Biden impression, while Jim Gaffigan takes on Tim Walz’s brand of energetic insanity.

On the Trump side, despite some speculation Lorne Michaels might go a different direction for the former president’s more manic rally persona, James Austin Johnson remains the go-to guy, modifying his gently rambling take on Trump into a louder rambling version that works quite well. Bowen Yang, meanwhile, steps into the shoes of J.D. Vance, because he can do anything!

While this week’s premiere introduced these players, it didn’t come close to bringing the biggest laughs. Those came during Weekend Update, and a brilliant Real Housewives parody, as well as two brilliant sketches cut for time, including a pretty spot-on House of the Dragon parody! And don’t worry, we’ve restored both in the rankings below.

As usual, we’re ranking all the sketches from worst to first, including the Monologue, Cold Open, “Weekend Update” and any sketches that were cut for time but made their way online. We’ll skip the musical guests, because they’re not usually funny — unless Ashlee Simpson shows up. We wrap up with a look at the cast-member who had the strongest week.

Newcomer Emil has a brief cameo as the viral Olympic shooter as SNL tries to play catch-up on all the good, juicy material they missed out on during the summer olympics. We also saw Chimp Crazy star Tonia Haddix, Hawk Tuah girl Haliey Welch — who really wishes everyone will still remember her name in a year — and North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson — who probably really wishes everyone would forget his. Devon Walker was solid enough as Michael Strahan hosting this disaster-ful performance from his players in a somewhat forgettable sketch. The jokes were all a bit too obvious, and the occasional pauses before line deliveries kept us from fully connecting.

A very, very silly sketch with Jean Smart as a romance writer hired by Scholastic to write a math book that was even more raunchy than a typical Harlequin. Jean messed up showing us the book’s cover jacket, showing us the back cover more than the front — live TV, folks! — but she made up for it with those sultry deliveries of math problems like exploring what’s 67+2… Yeah, it was that kind of juvenile humor, but we can’t deny that it’s pretty funny to read a steamy passage with a math problem awkwardly tacked on. This was another sketch that was more a gentle smile than a gut laugh, but at least we were smiling?

“I haven’t got all dressed up and had hundreds of people clap for for me … in days,” Jean Smart said at the top of what turned into a surprise musical monologue. She threw in some cut ad-libs for “I Happen to Like New York,” sharing her love for the city that never sleeps in the fall, noting, “All the garbage on the street is starting to change colors.” Jean has a natural ease and charm with her, and she’s naturally funny, with gentle quips throughout the monologue.

She shared that she remembered watching the first episode of this show, and even misunderstanding the title. “I thought SNL stood for Saturday Night Laughs,” she shared, adding. “And then I would watch the show and think, ‘Well, that can’t be right.'” It was an interesting tone to set for the 50th season premiere, with gravitas and charm over belly laughs, but we certainly know we’re in capable hands with her at the helm this week.

“The lyrics are vague but the vibe slaps.” Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris was comparing his vague rhetoric to Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” but it works for this season opener, as well. The sketch was more about introducing the various players who will help carry us through the season. Jim Gaffigan was over exuberant as her veep candidate Tim Walz, proudly declaring, “This suit is from Costco. It’s a Kirkland brand They make great dog food.” And Andy Samberg has grown a lot as a performer since his own SNL era, returning to portray her husband, Doug Emhoff.

But it was Dana Carvey who stole the show as “Joebiden,” stumbling around the stage and sounding even more nonsensical than Trump. “Guess what. And by the way. The fact of the matter is. I’m serious,” he said, or some variation of it, repeated before wandering back on stage and sniffing Kamala’s hair. On the Trump side, James Austin Johnson has tweaked his impression to be more bombastic, matching the former president’s current vibe. Bowen Yang is on point with an even more ridiculous J.D. Vance take.

All in all, the sketch was charming with some cute moments, but didn’t leave us gasping for air with its hilarity. But we do feel confident this group of mostly current and former cast is ready to take on the next month or so until the election — which is really the point.

Not so much an indictment of Spirit Halloween’s business tactics of swooping into vacant spots for six weeks each spooky season, but rather a pretty straightforward ad for their apparent business model. Oh sure, there were some jabs at the cheap knockoff costumes and some of the sketchy temporary workers, but mostly it was an accurate assessment of what happens each year across the country as these stores arrive and vanish, seemingly in the blink of an eye. The cast and writers certainly could have gone a little harder on the humor, rather than relying on the “oh I know” of it for gentle recognition chuckles.

SNL took this one a bit further than necessary, while also completely misfiring in the casting of James Austin Johnson as Fred (not nearly gruff enough) and Chloe Bennett going oddly very Jersey accent for Ethel. While we appreciated Jean Smart’s “dramatic actress” Edna Burken in the role of Lucy, as well as Marcello Hernandez trying to ham it up opposite her, their final vignette together didn’t work at all. Until that point, though, this was one of the night’s easy highlights, with a fun look at just how different sitcoms and dramas are delivered.

Like a strange pastiche of Watch What Happens Live, we were all in with Bowen Yang as Charli XCX making his guests uncomfortable with nonsensical questions, and definitely we were here for Ego Nwodim as Representative Jasmine Crockett — who “bleach blond” “butch body” blasted Marjorie Taylor Greene over the summer — dropping equally catchy burns on other political opponents. We still don’t have a clear definition of “brat,” but Sarah Sherman nailed her accent as Troye Sivan — and those abs! — in a cute supporting role.

Even the cast was having a hoot with the mouth garbling throughout this House of the Dragon parody that spoofs the similar names, similar hair, and similar — well everything of the hit HBO … Go … Now? … HBO Max … no, just Max show! From the four friends watching to the terrible recap that’s more confusing than the actual show, the clear highlight was James Austin Johnson having more fun than anyone with the most incomprehensible accent, and those adorable dogs. Actually, this one wasn’t far from the truth.

“I cannot believe Trump admitted he lost the debate to a mentally disabled person,” said Colin Jost, referencing this weekend’s shocking claim from the former president just two hours after it happened live at a rally. After a slow episode to this point, it was good to see WU step in with some sharply barbed jabs for Trump and Harris, including her giving ballots to migrant sneaking into the country behind her as she gave a speech. They also had a great response to an investigation into the Trump assassination attempt citing delayed email service, with Colin asking, “Who sees an assassin and is like, I better open Outlook?” This segment is usually worth the wait, and can elevate an otherwise sleep episode, and we were glad to see it true to form this week.

Devon Walker had shown improvement as a performer all throughout last season, but he’s really come into his own in this premiere. His Eric Adams was stronger than his Micheal Strahan, with a very smooth delivery of some pretty funny lines. His characterization was almost euphoric in sharing his illegal activities, and trying to push a connection to Che. This was a man proud of this bad boy image and expensive lifestyle, leading to some fun banter back and forth.

Che got off a great joke about the Menendez brothers being upset at Ryan Murphy’s show insinuating incest, quipping they’ve said, “We’re just glad our parents aren’t around to see this.” Meanwhile, Jost’s joke about the upcoming “mini-moon” got an out-loud laugh from us. The boys were definitely on a roll tonight, with jokes about Meryl Streep, Mark Zuckerberg’s AR glasses, that couple who allegedly tried to sell their baby for booze (and $1k), and we liked Che’s joke about the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.

The most ridiculous and funniest moment of the night came after we were kind of expecting Sarah Sherman to embody viral Thai pygmy hippo sensation Moo Deng. Instead, Bowen Yang basically represented Chappell Roan’s stance on the challenges of fame as the hippo railed against her own sudden rise to celebrity, the aggressive fans, the invasion of personal space. It was all the things, with bonus laughs every time Deng called for the “hose!” to chomp a drink. Deng flat-out made the comparison, emphasizing, “Reminder: women owe you nothing. When I’m in my enclosure tripping over stuff, biting my trainer’s knee, I am at work … Do not yell my name or expect a photo.”

Andrew Dismukes is always perfect in these inept confident roles and he nails it again as the father of a boy who just wants his dad to show up for his games sometimes. The reason he was able to show up to this particular one leads to a wild journey of compliments gone wrong, overdue bills, and a Mario Kart dream. The melodramatic delivery of the whole thing only enhances the growing absurdity, while Jean Smart and Andrew’s sincere deliveries make it even better. Everything about this little vignette works perfectly.

How was this held to the 10-to-1 slot at the end of the night? In one short restaurant scene, we were treated to parodies of everything that’s both wrong and oh so right with Bravo’s messiest franchise. Andrew Dismukes was incredible as the frustrated waiter just trying to deliver Fajitas to the table of women tearing into one another for their silly businesses, geriatric husbands and all the other nonsense Real Housewives like to argue about — while tearing Andew apart along the way for just trying to do his job. He’s the real victim here!

A surprisingly mellow premiere for the big 5-0, while extended audience responses to returning cast members and all those guest stars in the Cold Open left it with fewer sketches than an average show.

Jean was definitely the centerpiece of many of the sketches, but we have to give props to James Austin Johnson for revamping his Trump impression to better suit the current culture, and to Andrew Dismukes, for holding it together amid the chaos of the Real Housewives in one of the night’s standout performances, and bringing even more to his out-of-control dad in the cut-for-time baseball sketch.

Marcello Hernandez had a good night with both his Bad Bunny and Desi Arnaz impressions, while Devon Walker is starting to find his voice and confidence as a sketch performer, becoming far more solid and reliable. Chloe Fineman has become a staple performer, always delivering no matter the role, but one other star is quickly taking center stage

A lot of the night’s biggest impressions went to its slew of guest stars for the political Cold Open, but Bowen Yang really brought a lot of personality to his take on J.D. Vance. Then later, he surprised us with a surprisingly effective Charli XCX opposite Sarah Sherman’s delightfully daffy Troye Sivan. Add Bowen’s even more surprising turn as pygmy hippo Moo Deng, and Bowen edges Andrew for the strongest night.

Hopefully the brightness of his star doesn’t overshadow the rest of the cast to the detriment of the show after he exits — we’re thinking of the overwhelming dominance of past icons like Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig. You can already see the team leaning on his versatility and ability to wring laughs out of almost any scene, but this is also a talented cast with some players very underutilized in this premiere. We’ll have to wait to see how it shakes out.

Saturday Night Live’s 50th season celebration continues next week with host Nate Bargatze and musical guest Coldplay.