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Thesketchis the first of the nightthe cold open.
Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris onSaturday Night Live.
Can we say this yet?
PresidentHillary Clinton, Strong finishes.
The laugh she gets is swift and sure.
Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton sings Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” onSaturday Night Live.
Andas we know now, of coursewrong.
Just last Friday She does a karate kick for emphasis.
He handed me this election.
Dana Carvey, Andy Samberg, Maya Rudolph, and Jim Gaffigan backstage atSaturday Night Live.
Again there are big laughs, from an audience still three weeks away from hearing the actual punchline.
The episode ofSNLthat aired on November 13, 2016, openedwith a very different vibe.
It was the first after Trump, not Clinton, won the election.
There was no sketch.
The stage was dark, the audience somber.
McKinnonin costume as Clinton, but not really in charactersat at a piano.
She sang Jeff Buckleys Hallelujah.
When the song was over, she looked into the camera.
Im not giving up, she said, and neither should you.
Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton sings Leonard Cohens Hallelujah onSaturday Night Live.
And live from New York, its Saturday Night, McKinnon concluded.
The studio was silent.
Cut to this weekendsseason 50 premiereofSNL.
Much has shifted since the last time the show had a major-party female nominee to play with.
Baldwins moist-lipped, bitter Trump gave way to James Austin Johnsons spiritually accurate free association.
As Rudolphs Harris put it inlast nights cold open: Thefunthas been rebooted.
The Harris (via Rudolph) of 2020 was a Harris in limbo.
The Harris (via Rudolph) of 2024 is a Harris in action.
A cool one).
More than anything else, it was a collection of realities.
Dana Carvey, Andy Samberg, Maya Rudolph, and Jim Gaffigan backstage atSaturday Night Live.
But the not knowing, if hell on the sanity, is good for the art.
It has been yearsyearssince a presidentially concerned sketch onSNLachieved any semblance of escapism.
(Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer in an Easter Bunny outfitgot pretty close.)
On first watch of the cold open, I worried all those men were pulling focus from Rudolph.
